Listen to the Unicorn
by YMR9
Summary: What happens if Hogwarts has a US branch in Ohio. Brittany has just moved here, and the beautiful Prefect of the rival House is giving her a hard time.
1. Moving Out

**Prologue**

 **7 years ago, London**

Mister Figgins and Professor McGonagall had been walking around Hogwarts the whole day. Finally, they finished the tour.

"I'm sure everything will go well, Professor McGonagall," Figgins said firmly.

"And I'm wishing you the best, Mister Figgins. Hogwarts shouldn't stay in one place. I'm glad the President of United States accepted our offer," Professor McGonagall replied with a smile on her lips. "Have you thought about the place, yet, sir?"

"I'm thinking small towns, Professor McGonagall. Maybe Ohio. It's my hometown."

"I would love it to be a small town as well. You can never hide Hogwarts from muggles in New York or Los Angeles," the old lady chuckled. "And if we are successful with the US branch, we can construct new schools for the young wizards and witches all over the world," She could not be happier.

"And may the kids have a bright future," Figgins excitedly put his fists up and held it in front of his shoulders. "Achievement!"

Professor McGonagall did not seem to understand his gesture.

"Excuse me, ma'am. I have to leave to catch a plane back to my country. It's my pleasure to meet you," Figgins casually bowed and left.

Before Professor McGonagall could say anything, he was already out of her sight.

"He could have just used the Floo Network," she mumbled.

* * *

 **1 month ago, London**

"Dad, do you really have to go? I'm gonna miss you so, so, so much," Brittany hugged her dad again. It had already been ten times today.

Pierce Pierce, Brittany's father, one of the five-stars Pierce Hotel owners, had been offered a big job in the Embassy of England back in their home country, the States. The family moved to Pierce Hotel London since Brittany was almost 11, just so she could attend to Hogwarts, the best school for witches and wizards. It already felt like home here.

"Brittany, honey, you're not a little girl anymore. You know you only have two years left at Hogwarts, and then we can go back to US and live together as a family again," Whitney Pierce was trying to comfort her daughter.

Brittany just nodded.

"Are you sure you're okay not having me around? I don't think the Embassy will allow me to travel on my own too often," Pierce asked his wife.

"Oh dear, Brittany and I are going to have so much fun here. We'll have girl night and girl chat everyday," the woman said brightly.

Pierce playfully rolled eyes at his wife. He then checked his watch. "I have to go now, or I'm gonna be late. Come here, guys. Give me a grouphug!"

Brittany and Whitney hugged him at the same time. The girl was trying her best not to cry.

"Take care," Pierce mumbled after they let go of him. He grabbed his luggage and stepped into the house's fireplace. "The Pierce Hotel, Ohio!"

And then Pierce was gone. Brittany blinked a few times. She didn't realize she was hugging her mom. Whitney gently stroked her daughter's hair.

"Two years, Brittany. Only two years."

* * *

 **2 weeks ago, London**

It had been a slow month since Brittany's father moved back to the US He came back to London to visit her and Whitney once a week, but Brittany still did not get used to not having him around. Today was another day she woke up and just stared at her bedroom's ceiling.

 _IF YOU WANNA BE MY LOVER, YOU BETTER GET WITH MY FRIEND!_

She was startled and slapped her alarm clock a little too hard. It fell off her nightstand.

"Woah, Spice Ladies, you startled me," she mumbled.

"I didn't know you like to talk to a clock," a bright shiny voice came out of nowhere.

Brittany was startled again. It was the same moment she realized her cousin was in her room.

"Courtney!" Brittany got up and ran to give her cousin a hug.

Courtney Pierce faked a cough and Brittany let go of her. "What?"

Courtney looked up and down at Brittany to make a point that she was still in her underwear.

"Oh, I sleep in my underwear now." that was all Brittany replied.

She stood still, did not even bother to get dressed yet.

"No wonder why your mom suggested me to wait for you outside. Anyway, sorry if I invaded your privacy, but your bod is _hot_ , just like mine!"

Brittany smiled at Courtney, and Courtney did it in return. For both girls, it was like staring in a mirror.

Courtney was sixteen-years-old like Brittany. She was the daughter of Uncle Theirry Pierce. The two girls were born in the same month and almost looked alike, except that Brittany had blue eyes while Courtney had green ones. They were also raised together in Pierce Hotel Ohio and were mistaken for twins many times. But since Brittany moved to England, they did not hang out much anymore.

"So what brought you here, Court?" Brittany asked.

"A port key," Courtney replied and laughed at her own joke.

Brittany chuckled at how bad the joke was.

"Seriously, twinsie, get dressed and I'll tell you everything at breakfast," Courtney winked and then walked to the door elegantly.

 _She's not my twin because she's much better than me. She's the Prefect of White House of US Hogwarts, and she won Yule Ball Queen last year. Not to mention her straight Outstanding grades. Basically, she's perfect._ Brittany could not help but think about these facts.

Brittany put on a t-shirt and a spank pants because she was curious about what Courtney was about to tell her, so she wanted to get dressed as fast as she could.

Her mother and her cousin were already at the table, along with Uncle Theirry and his wife, Joanne. Brittany said hi to them and sat down.

"So, why are you guys here?" the girl got to the point as soon as her butt touched the chair.

"Brittany, give them a break. They just got here and this is an important news," said Whitney calmly.

"Mom, you just made me even more curious," Brittany did not lie.

Courtney smiled and clucked her tongue once.

"Fine. It's just that US Hogwarts had this exchange program that one sixth year's student will come here and finish school, and one from here will go there. So I'm that student and you're going to US Hogwarts. Oh, I already applied for the both of us and they said yes, so you don't have a choice. But it's okay, right? Because I know how much you miss your father," Courtney spoke so fast without breathing.

It took Brittany three seconds to gather the information, and it took ten to process.

"Oh, this is so…," Brittany was speechless.

"Awesome?" Courtney finished the sentence for her.

"Yes, but…"

"What?"

"I'm not so good at making new friends and stuff. And I don't even know how US is these days. I don't even know if mom wanna move," Brittany turned to her mom at the end of the sentence.

"Oh honey, anything you want. But if it were up to me, I would love to live with your father again, of course. And you're a good girl. People will like you," Whitney gave her daughter the best answer.

"I'm sure Brittany will be popular at US Hogwarts just like Courtney was," said Uncle Theirry.

"You'll be a great Prefect, Brittany. Or a cheerleader, or a Yule Ball Queen!" Aunt Joanne supported her husband.

 _They think too high of me. I don't want to disappoint them. But I really miss my dad and wanna stay close to him again. Not to mention I have no choice. Damn it, Courtney. You're so commanding sometimes. But this time I guess it's for the best._

"Okay. So when do we have to move then?" Brittany asked.

"As you've noticed, our whole family are already here…," Aunt Joanne started.

"…So you have to go to US Hogwarts within next week," Courtney finished her mother's sentence.

"Gah, I hate packing!" Brittany groaned.

"You are such a baby," Courtney shook her head.

"Yeah, yeah. Can we eat now?"

* * *

 **1 week ago, London**

For the rest of the week, Brittany spent most of her time packing. Courtney took it of her own accord that she would move in Brittany's room, so she started moving her things inside the room and made everything even messier. The girls took this opportunity to exchange the information of each other's school.

"So, US Hogwarts is not too different from the one in England, actually. But instead of having four houses, we have two. _The White House_ and _The Pentagon_. I guess you know what they were named after. You're going to be in White House, and I'm gonna be in Hufflepuff. They don't _re-sort_ us. I guess when they said "exchange student", we really do exchange everything, you know? If you wanna know anything else, just ask," Courtney honed her 'talking without breathing' craft again.

"So are there any Pygmy Puffs in US?" It was the first question Brittany could come up with.

Courtney shook her head and smiled at her cousin.

"That's all you wanna know? You know why you are my favorite cousin? Because you're so cute and you've never changed. Of course, there are Pygmy Puffs, unicorns, flobberworms, all the cute things."

Brittany did not think flobberworms were cute, but she did not argue.

"Anyway, you will find the rivalry between two Houses quite strong, though. The Pentagon's Prefect is an uber bitch. Don't talk to her if you don't have to. Actually, don't even get near her," Courtney suddenly sounded very serious.

"Court, did she do something to you?" Brittany was concerned.

"Oh no. She just always insulted me and my friends, or cast silly spells at me. But I heard a rumor that she has killed someone," Courtney whispered when she got to the last sentence.

"Oh my God. I hope it's not true. But I'll be careful. What's her name?"

"Santana Lopez."


	2. Where is Platform 9 3-4?

**5 days ago, Ohio**

 **Pierce's POV**

The lobby of Pierce hotel in Ohio was crowded and loud like every night. It seemed like everyone did not stay in their rooms at all. The guests seemed to be interested in the new owner of the Ohio branch. Pierce Pierce was trying his best to talk to as many guests as possible.

It was already one o'clock in the morning and he was already tired from his main job at the Embassy. It would be perfectly fine for him to go to bed and leave the guests with other hotel staff members. But tonight was not one of those nights.

 _They should have been here already._ Pierce thought and looked at his watch.

Whitney told him that Brittany and she would arrive by the Floo Network at midnight. They chose the Floo Network because it would be less messy than using a Port Key, and it would take less time than an airplane. Pierce had advised everyone to clear off the fireplace to make some space for his wife and his daughter. It had been one hour and Pierce started to worry that there might be something wrong with the fireplace here, or Whitney and Brittany might be sent to other places.

"May I be excused, Mr. Motta?" Price excused himself from one of the guests, Al Motta, and started to walk towards the fireplace.

Pierce stood directly in front of the fireplace and inspected every detail of it. Nothing seemed to be wrong. There was only one thing to do now.

 _If they're not showing up in 10 seconds, I'm gonna go there._ Pierce made up his mind and told himself.

 _10, 9, 8…_

"Are you okay, Mr. Pierce?" Pierce heard Rory, a bellboy, asked.

Pierce had just realized that it must look strange to stand still in front of a fireplace and did not do anything. He nodded without turning to Rory. He started to count again.

 _10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4…_

"Here you are. We have not finished talking about my new golf course," Al Motta decided to show up next to Pierce at this moment.

Pierce turned around to reply, but he suddenly realized that most of the guests were in front of the fireplace. He assumed that they thought it was okay to come back to this area now.

"Everyone," Pierce spoke as loud as he could. "I would like to ask you to kindly step away from the fireplace. My wife and daught- ouch!"

Pierce was hit in the back with a big object and fell to the ground. He looked up and found out that the object was a luggage, which continued to fly its way to the guests behind him.

Pierce tried to get up to see if the guests were injured or not, but a familiar voice chimed in.

"Dad!" Brittany was behind him and helped him get up. "I'm so sorry about the luggage."

"It's okay, sweetheart," Pierce turned around and hugged his daughter. "I'm just glad you're finally here. Now, where is your mom?"

"She's-"

There was a _whoosh_ sound and both Pierce and Brittany were knocked down to the ground. It took quite a moment for them to realize that Whitney was on top of them.

"Here's mom," Brittany said brightly even though she almost could not breathe.

The Pierce family decided to take this moment to hug each other. And none of them decided to get up. It was a split second that they thought they were the only three people in the hotel, until they heard "Aw" sound coming from most of the guests.

Pierce got up and introduced his wife and daughter to the guests. He knew that tonight was going to be a really long night.

* * *

Now that everything was settled and most of the guests left to their rooms, Pierce turned to his wife.

"You arrived one hour late. I was so worried."

"Didn't we arrive at midnight?" Whitney replied and cocked her head to one side.

"I'm sorry to make you worry, dad. I think it must be the timezone thing. Oh, or we were in the Floo Network for an hour. I swear I saw a cat in there and I tried to save him from dizziness," Brittany rambled.

As usual, Pierce and Whitney smiled adoringly at their daughter.

"It's late now. Why don't you two get some sleep? Tomorrow you have to unpack, you know?" Pierce suggested.

"But I don't want to unpack and pack again to Hogwarts. Can I be in the same clothes until I go there?" Brittany had to ask because she really did not like packing.

"I, for one, wouldn't mind. But I bet Courtney left some clothes in her room as well. You can either wear your own clothes or her clothes," Whitney said and added "Even if you stink, I will still love you."

"That's a good idea! Good night, mom. Good night, dad," Brittany hugged them at the same time and left to Courtney's room, which was her new room.

It was not the first time Brittany was in this room. Courtney's room was a little bigger than hers in London. Most of the furniture was in white. Brittany always thought it was too bright and she would prefer the room to be more colorful. But she would rather not complain now.

 _I'm gonna be in Hogwarts in 5 days anyway._ Brittany thought while stripping down to her underwear.

She opened the closet to look for pajamas and found only the ones in linen dresses. Every time Brittany wore a linen dress to bed, it always ended up rolling up to her waist in the morning.

Brittany shrugged and jumped in bed in her underwear.

 _What if no one likes me at Hogwarts? What if they rather have Courtney back? What if I can't handle Santana Lopez and the Pentagon students?_ Brittany thought and drifted off the sleep.

* * *

 **Present, Ohio**

 **Brittany's POV**

The Ohio's train station was crowded on Saturday evening. Brittany wondered if it was for the purpose that muggles would not see witches and wizards entering a secret platform.

Brittany pushed her cart forward and followed her parents. She walked pass the platforms one by one. She did not see anything between platforms 9 and 10. She started to worry if there was a mistake.

"Here you are, Mr. Hummel," Pierce suddenly stopped to say hi to a man in a baseball cap.

Brittany almost crashed the cart into her father's back when he said. "This is my daughter, Brittany. And my wife, Whitney."

"Hey, Pierce, how are you? And nice to meet you guys," Mr. Hummel replied casually and shook Whitney's and Brittany's hand.

"Mr. Hummel will show us how to get to the train to Hogwarts. His son, Kurt, also goes there," Pierce said and looked around.

He noticed that Kurt was not here. "Um, where is Kurt?"

"Probably buying some snacks with Rachel and Mercedes. And please, you guys can call me Burt" Burt Hummel replied and turned to Brittany. "So, Brittany, I heard it's your first year here. Believe me, you're going to be fine. My son and his friends are good kids. They're going to take care of you."

"Thank you, Burt. I can't wait to talk to them. Also, I was so worried because there was no platform 9 ¾ like in London. So may I ask how do I get to Hogwarts here?" Brittany could not wait to know any longer.

"Easy. You just get on one of these 15 bogeys," Burt shrugged and pointed his thumb over his shoulder.

Brittany laughed because she thought he was joking. Then she realized he was serious.

"So, Burt, how does it work?" Whitney was concerned.

"You just get on one of the bogeys. At some point on the way, these 15 bogeys will separate themselves from the rest. Then they will go through a portal that will lead you to Hogwarts," Burt explained and turned to Brittany. "So, remember to not walk too far from your bogeys. You do not want to end up being separated from your friend and go to who-know-where."

"Yes, sir. I think I'll just sit tight and make new friends," Brittany replied and smiled.

She noticed a boy and two girls running towards them. They boy wore white pants, and the girls were in white skirts. But their tops were in different colors.

"Hi, Mr. Pierce! And you must be Mrs. Pierce. Nice to meet you," the boy quickly shook Whitney's hand and turned to Brittany. "And you must be Brittany. I'm Kurt. This is Rachel and Mercedes. We're all in the White House!"

Kurt was a handsome boy and he was as tall as Brittany.

 _He's so cute. His ears are like elves' ears._ Brittany could not help but think.

Rachel was tiny and her smile was the biggest smile Brittany had ever seen. Mercedes was quite calm and did not smile as widely as Rachel, but she seemed friendly.

"We heard so much about you. You look just like Courtney! You're gonna be a perfect Yule Ball Queen, or cheerleader, or…" Rachel said excitedly and her list seemed to go on and on.

 _Except that I'm not smart and perfect like her._ Brittany wanted to reply, but she only smiled at Rachel. Her smile weakened gradually as long as the list went on.

"Don't pressure the poor girl, Rachel. Don't worry. You're gonna be fine," Mercedes seemed to notice.

Brittany felt like she had just saved her life.

"Aw, children, look at you getting along with each other already," Whitney joined in and clasped her hands together. "But the train will leave in 5 minutes, so you should get on it now. Brittany, come here. Give me a hug."

Brittany hugged her mom tightly and tried her best not to cry. "See you at Christmas."

Brittany kissed her mom's cheek and turned to hug her dad.

"Dad, don't work too hard, okay? And try to get some sleep."

"You tell yourself, too, sweetie," Pierce told his daughter.

The girls and Kurt said goodbye to everyone and got on the train.

Four of them sat together on each side of a table. Kurt pours all the snacks out of his back and told everyone they could eat anything. He took off his blue jacket and started to tie a grey tie around his neck. Mercedes and Rachel also took off their jackets. But instead of a grey tie, Rachel had a white bow around her neck and white headband on her head. And Mercedes put on a grey blazer.

Brittany was confused if this was their uniform because she did not have many white clothes.

 _I should have asked Courtney more about the House and many things. Why am I so stupid?_

Brittany guessed she must have looked so puzzled because Kurt explained to her.

" _Whities_ can wear anything in white or grey to present our House. It was less strict than in UK Hogwarts, I guess. You can wear a grey shoe and a white shoe at the same time. Nobody cares."

"We call ourselves Whities. The Pentagon people are the _Pents_. Santana Lopez once said it was shorten from 'serpent', but I think she just made it up," Rachel added.

 _Santana Lopez. This name again. I want to know how she looks like._

"So, which one is Santana? Courtney told me to stay away from her," Brittany asked her new friends.

"She's not here. All the Prefects go to school earlier than us to prepare for new semesters," Mercedes replied.

"But did she kill someone, though? I hope it's just a rumour."

"Nobody knows. Even Quinn doesn't know," Rachel put her hands up in the air like she could not care less.

"Who is Quinn? Sorry. I think I ask you guys too many questions," Brittany did not want to bore her new friends with all the questions.

"I'm Quinn," a blonde girl dressed in black showed up.

She was in a black shirt, black blazer and black skirt. The only thing that was not in black was the golden 'F' pin on her chest.

"Brittany, this is Quinn Fabray. She's the traitor of the Pentagon. She's Santana's best friend, so Santana doesn't care if she goes around and be friends with us, Whities," Rachel stood up and introduced Quinn in the most formal manner.

"All good, Rachel. Except the traitor part," Quinn nodded approvingly. "So what did you guys talk about? And wow, you are another Courtney."

 _This is worse than "You look just like Courtney"._ Brittany thought

"We were talking about that Santana rumour," Kurt told Quinn.

"Oh, _that_ rumour," Quinn said. "I asked her once one night and she got quiet and said she had to do something. She left the dorm and did not come back the whole night. When I saw her again, she was already in the Great Hall, having breakfast."

"That's all you know? Aren't you her best friend?" Mercedes asked.

"She doesn't want to tell me. Why should I push her? Also, she's already under the pressure of being the first half-muggle Prefect of the Pentagon," Quinn tried her best to defend her best friend.

"Can you at least ask her to be nicer to us? She put mud in my cocoa last year and it sort of ruined my vocal cord for a week," Rachel made a face like she was in pain.

"I'll try, but no promises. I gotta go. Good luck with the election, you guys," Quinn waved at them and walked away elegantly.

"So, what election?" Brittany asked.

"Election for Prefect, of course. Since Courtney is gone, we need a new Prefect in sixth year. Kurt and I will apply for it," Rachel seemed to be very excited about this.

"So you mean I don't have to be Prefect instead of Courtney? She said we exchanged everything, so I assumed…"

"You can apply if you want. Just submit your name to Headmaster Figgins within the first week," Mercedes explained.

"Nah, if you guys are applying for it, I don't want to be your competitor," Brittany told Kurt and Rachel.

She was a Prefect for Hufflepuff before, so she was not worried if she had to be a Prefect again. But if Kurt and Rachel wanted to be one, she would rather step away.

"We wouldn't mind, really," Kurt told her. "But of course, it would be great to have fewer competitors. So far there are me, Rachel and Jacob Ben Israel, and you can write down anyone's name on the ballot, which I don't think many people do that. So I think I have a good chance of winning. No offense, Rach."

Rachel jokingly glared at Kurt. "If you win, I would feel like I win too. Because I love you so much, Kurt."

"Aw," Kurt hugged Rachel.

Mercedes smiled at them and shook her head.

Four of them had a good time talking and having snacks. Brittany noticed some Whities and Pents walk pass them. The Whities smiled at them and the Pents glare at them. Brittany had a feeling that the Pents glared at her especially and she did not like this fact.

 _What did I do to already have enemies on the first day at school? I hate when people don't get along. What if things will be like this forever?_

Brittany shook off the thought and got back to the conversation with her friends. She had made three new friends today and they were great. She told herself that everything was going to be okay.


	3. Welcome to (another) Hogwarts

Brittany changed into her white shirt and grey skirt after Kurt told her they would arrive at Hogwarts in 15 minutes. Kurt also gave her his small grey tie as a welcome gift. Rachel and Mercedes did not give her anything, but they promised they would lend her clothes and accessories whenever Brittany needed them.

"There you go," Rachel said after she helped Brittany tie the tie because Brittany had a hard time trying to do it.

"Thanks, Rachel," Brittany said briefly.

Brittany did not speak much for the rest of the ride because she was too excited and nervous for the first day at new school. She spent the time listening to her new friends talking and singing. Brittany thought they were all great singers, and wished she were half as good as them.

The train started to slow down in contrast with how Brittany's heart was racing. Brittany, Kurt and Mercedes got up to get their luggage while Rachel was determining to finish the last two verses of _Defying Gravity_. The three of them waited for Rachel to get ready and got off the train together.

Brittany was surprised to see that the gate to Hogwarts was just next to the railway, unlike in England, where they were taken to the gate by carriages that moved by themselves. They walked through the gate, and they were ready to tell their name to the janitor, Howard Bamboo, so he could check on the students list. After Brittany told him her name, he asked her to wait.

"You, wait here," Howard Bamboo said without further explanation.

It seemed like he did not like to speak at all.

"But why, sir?" Brittany asked.

"I don't know. Headmaster's order," he replied quickly and turned to other students who were approaching him.

Brittany had no choice but to stand there and wait as he asked. Kurt, Rachel and Mercedes promised to go inside and ask Headmaster Figgins or other teachers what was going on.

Brittany stood awkwardly beside the janitor and looked at students who walked pass her. Some White House students said hello to her, and she said it back to every one of them. As expected, the Pents glared at her. Brittany was half glad that at least they did not say anything, because what they might have said might not be a casual 'hello'.

After the last student was gone inside, Brittany turned to Howard Bamboo.

"Can I go now, sir? Why was I held up here?"

"I don't know. Headmaster's order. But I guess you can go," the janitor replied without looking at her.

He walked to the gate to close it.

Brittany picked up her luggage and started to walk inside. She turned around and found that Howard Bamboo was already out of her sight. Brittany wondered where he went, but she was more curious about what was waiting ahead of her.

Brittany walked pass the front yard and noticed that everything was exactly the same like the original Hogwarts' garden. All the shrubs were cut in the same shape. And the statues stood in the same spots. Brittany walked as fast as she could because it was getting dark, and she wanted to catch up with her friends. But when she turned right to head to the castle, the sight in front of her made her forget how to walk.

On the left side of the castle's entrance, a group of people in white was waiting for her. Brittany saw Kurt, Rachel and Mercedes waving at her. She heard some people yelling "Welcome Brittany!" and most of people were clapping. Some of them even lid fireworks from their wands. Brittany realized this was the reason she was held up. She felt so grateful that she wanted to cry. However, the imbalance of the left side and right side did not go unnoticed.

Brittany turned to the right side and found that only three students in black and a man in a yellow gown were there. Two of Pentagon students wore Prefect badges. One of them was a boy, and the other one was a girl. The third Pentagon student was Quinn. Brittany wanted to greet Quinn, but she already turned away to talk to the Prefect girl next to her. Brittany suddenly realized that the girl was Santana Lopez.

Santana Lopez had thick black hair and dark eyes. Her skin was brown, except on her cheeks where it was slightly red. Her nose was tiny and her lips were full. She was in black tight short dress. Brittany could not help but look down at her thighs and legs.

 _So toned. And her skin seems so smooth. And I like her face too._ Brittany thought and turned her eyes up to look at Santana's face again only to find that Santana was looking at her.

Unlike other Pents so far, Santana did not glare at her. But Brittany could not tell from Santana's expression what she was thinking. Santana _just_ looked at her.

The two of them held each other's gaze and none of them seemed to want to look away. Until Brittany heard someone from White House's side call her name.

"Brittany! This way!"

Brittany turned to the voice. It came from a tiny girl with a big grey bow on her head. She was jumping and waving at Brittany.

"Hey, Brittany! Come here! I'm Sugar Motta. My daddy knows your daddy. We should be friends!" Sugar Motta said with loud high-pitched voice.

Brittany remembered Al Motta, a billionaire who visited their hotel very often. But she already forgot he had a daughter. Brittany walked over to her to say hi. But Sugar decided to hug her instead.

"Oh, hi. Nice to meet you," Brittany told Sugar during the hug.

"See, Courtney and I are very close and…," Sugar started a conversation.

"Children, let's not waste our time," a voice behind Brittany interrupted her.

She turned around to see that it came from the man in a yellow gown.

"Brittany Susan Pierce, I am Headmaster Figgins. Here to welcome you to US Hogwarts," the man said calmly and shook her hand.

He continued to speak. This time, he spoke to everyone.

"Children, please give a round of applaud to our first exchange student, Brittany Susan Pierce!"

The White House students clapped and cheered for her. Brittany gave them a sheepish grin. She could not help but turn around to the other side.

The boy just looked at the ground like it interested him more. Quinn did not clap, but she smiled at Brittany sincerely. And Santana, who was folding her arms, rolled her eyes.

After she had heard many bad things about Santana from many people, Santana's reaction like this should be expected. But Brittany did not know why it made her sad.

* * *

Headmaster Figgins led all the students inside to the Great Hall. The architecture inside the castle was exactly the same as the one in England as well.

The first year's students had just arrived and they were still in clothes they wore on the train. Headmaster Figgins called their names one by one and placed the Sorting Hat on their head. Brittany looked at them and imagined how nervous they must have felt.

The Whities and the Pents cheered every time the new students were sorted into their house. Brittany helped some of the newbies change into their new clothes.

The Sorting ceremony went smoothly. Brittany sat down at the table with Kurt, Rachel, Mercedes and Sugar.

"Daddy told me that you flew out of the fireplace at your hotel, Brittany. That is so cool," Sugar started a conversation again.

"More like stumbled out of it. I'm so clumsy sometimes," Brittany corrected her.

She tried to talk with her other new friends as well. But Sugar kept talking to her.

"Anyway, you're welcome to visit our new golf course any time. It's just a few miles from our casino. Oh, you're welcome to our casino, too. Do you play poker?"

"I don't like to poke things. It makes me sad, so," Brittany replied genuinely.

Sugar seemed to be confused, but she pushed on. "What about blackjack?"

"Who is Jack?"

Sugar got quiet and blinked a few times. But she spoke again. "Okay, I don't know if you're joking, but…"

"Sugar, why don't you go sit with your fifth year friends, dear?" Mercedes interrupted her.

"I agree. Aren't you applying for fifth year's Prefect? They're gonna _need_ to be convinced to vote for you," Kurt added and emphasized on the word 'need'.

"Yes! Great idea! I should do that. See you, Brittany!" Sugar replied and got up.

She ran to another table and joined a boy in a wheelchair and an Asian girl.

"Girl, you've got a groupie," Mercedes told Brittany.

"Look. Sugar is nice. But don't take her serious, okay? Like, I, for one, won't vote for her to be fifth year's Prefect," Rachel chimed in.

"So we can vote for other year's Prefect too?" Brittany asked.

"Yes. Everyone in White House can vote for anything involving our house. I'm so excited for them to vote for me," Rachel said giddily.

Kurt faked a cough very loud. They all giggled and had their dinner.

Brittany looked at the teachers' table and Rachel told her each of teacher's name and their responsibilities.

"That's Professor Sylvester. She teaches _Potions_. She's also the Head of the Pentagon, so she's pretty scary. But if you can answer her questions in class, you'll be okay," Rachel described the woman with short spiky blonde hair in a black gown. Brittany was already intimidated by her.

Professor Sylvester sat on the left side of the table alone. On the right side, as Rachel told her, Professor Schuester was a _History of Magic_ teacher and the Head of the White House. He had curly hair and square jaws. Next to him was Madam Pillsbury who took care of Hospital Wing. Her hair was red and she seemed very shy.

The next woman on the table was Professor Holliday, who taught _Defence Against the Dark Arts_. Rachel told her that Professor Holliday sometimes did something over-the-top in class that almost hurt some students. But they all liked her because she was funny, and the way she taught seemed to be effective.

A tall boy walked to their table and sat next to Rachel.

"Brittany, this is my boyfriend, Finn," Rachel introduced him.

"Hi, I'm Brittany. Nice to meet you," Brittany told him.

Finn only smiled and nodded at her.

"Finn is the captain of White House's quidditch team. He's also my step-brother. It's complicated," Kurt added.

"So, Brittany. Do you play quidditch back in England?" Finn asked.

"I was only a cheerleader for my house, Hufflepuff. I played sometimes. But I've never tried out for the team." Brittany replied.

"We're looking for a Seeker. You should come try out next week."

"I'll think about it."

* * *

After Brittany was almost full, Headmaster Figgins stood up and pointed his wand to his neck.

"Children, I hope you enjoyed your meal. It's time to leave to your dormitories now."

"But I haven't eaten yet," the voice came from the Great Hall's door, which was just opened and closed.

Santana Lopez stood there with three of Pentagon boys. Brittany remembered those students were first-year students who were just got sorted. All four of them were covered in small wounds and dirt.

"Miss Lopez, would you be so kind to tell me where you four have been?" the Headmaster asked.

"These little bastards decided to sneak out and almost died from Whomping Willow," Santana replied and turned to the three boys. "What were you thinking!? Did you drop your brain out of the train's window?"

One of the boys looked like he wanted to cry.

One of them dared to speak. "We could have handled it."

Santana gasped and lowered her face to the boy's level. "What did you just say? Be careful what you're gonna say next."

"I… We… We didn't mean it. We won't sneak out again," the boy suddenly sounded very scared.

"Good. Because if there's next time, I'll tie you to your new favorite tree." Santana hissed at the boys.

"Miss Lopez, that's enough," Headmaster Figgins spoke up. "We have our system of punishment. Thirty points from Pentagon."

"That's not fair. I risked my life to save them. What do I get?" Santana seemed very pissed.

"You and the boys get 20 minutes to have your dinner. And then, please take them to their dormitory," the Headmaster said and left his table to make a point that this conversation had ended.

Brittany saw Santana huffed and walked to one of Pentagon tables. She sat down and grabbed anything she could reach and put in her mouth. Most of the students were leaving the room. Quinn walked to Santana and patted on her shoulder. Santana mumbled something to her while her mouth was still full. Brittany somehow found it very attractive.

"Brittany, let's go," Mercedes drew Brittany's attention back to her friends.

They got up and walked out of the Great Hall. When they were walking pass Santana, Brittany was sure Santana looked at her for a few seconds. But when Brittany looked back, she quickly turned her attention back to the food.

The girls said goodbye to Kurt and got into their dormitory. Brittany noticed the initial _C.P._ carved on one of her bedposts and smiled.

 _Courtney Pierce. Of course, Courtney would do this._

Brittany quickly looked for her pajamas in the luggage. She pulled them out without removing anything else. After she changed and got into bed. Her mind could not think about anything except Santana Lopez.

Brittany was torn. Part of her wanted to believe Courtney and her friends and stay away from Santana. Another part of her wanted to get to know Santana and find out the truth by herself.

 _I don't understand why everyone said she's horrible. She sounds scary, but she doesn't seem like a bad person. She risked her life to save those boys. How could someone like this be a bad person… or kill someone?_

Brittany was lost in thoughts and slowly drifted off to sleep with Santana on her mind.

* * *

 **A/N: I feel like this ep is kinda slow again, so sorry about that. I originally wanted to have scenes where Brittana actually talked. But I ended up having to add these little details of teachers and stuff because it will be important later. So yeah, the ep got long and I had to end it there.**

 **I hope to write Chapter 4 very soon if my job and school stuff allow me. T_T**

 **Your feedbacks will be very appreciated. Cheers! :)**


	4. Snitchy

The first day of classes started today. Brittany's first subject was Potions. She had heard many scary things about the teacher, Professor Sylvester, so she woke up early to make sure she would be on time. Brittany also spent some time last night to read the first chapter on the sixth year's Potions textbook.

Brittany and her friends arrived too early in the dungeons, where the class would be taught. Surprisingly, there were Pentagon students who were earlier than them. Brittany spotted Santana among them, and Santana seemed to spot her as well.

Before Brittany could find a seat, Santana got up from her chair and walked towards her.

"Look who is here. It's Courtney 2.0," Santana started.

 _Not again._ Brittany thought. But before she responded, Santana continued to speak.

"I didn't have a chance to introduce myself to you properly."

Brittany did not sure what Santana was trying to do or why she would want to introduce herself to someone from the rival house. In the end, Brittany decided to play nice.

"You're Santana, right? I'm Brittany. Nice to meet you," Brittany spoke and offered her hand.

Santana did not take her hand. Instead, she crossed her arms.

"Not what I have in mind, Pierce. Yes, I know your last name. Because last semester, your cousin put gum in my hair. A Weasley's Wizard Wheezes' gum, I might add. I almost had to shave my head," Santana stepped closer before she uttered another sentence slowly. "And I still haven't got my revenge on."

"Come on, Santana. Leave Brittany alone," Mercedes said and stepped beside Brittany.

"Nobody's talking to you, _Weezy_ ," Santana snapped at Mercedes.

Brittany felt bad that Mercedes had to be snapped at because of her. She quickly drew Santana's attention back to her.

"Look, I'm sorry for what Courtney has done to you. But I'm not her, okay? We don't have to be enemies," Brittany took that moment to truly look into Santana's eyes to convey her sincerity.

It was the first time Brittany saw Santana's eyes up close. She was mesmerized by the two black pools in front of her, which shimmered occasionally by the light in the room.

 _Wow, they're super dark. It's like you can get lost in there… or swim in there._

"Your eyes are so black," Brittany said out loud.

The moment did not last long because Santana quickly looked away.

Santana cleared her throat. "Fine. You don't wanna be enemies, right? Just make sure to stay out of my way," she replied and walked back to her seat.

Brittany realized that they would probably never be friends. She was sad by the fact, but she told herself it could have been worse.

Professor Sylvester walked in the classroom. The woman looked very tall up close. Her long black coat trailed after her elegantly. Brittany found her very intimidating, and very more so when she spoke.

"Good morning, losers. It's necessary that you know I'm definitely not happy the semester started again. Turn to page 47."

Even though Professor Sylvester was not nice, Brittany found herself and every student paid attention to her lessons. She guessed everyone was doing it out of fear.

Professor Sylvester started asking questions. Brittany saw both White House and Pentagon students raised their hand. However, the teacher mostly seemed to pick only Pentagon students to answer.

"What common antidote does not work on Basilisk venom?"

Brittany knew the answer, so she raised her hand. She saw Santana did the same.

"That black stone thing," Santana answered before the teacher even picked her.

It was not exactly the right answer, so Brittany spoke out before the Professor called her name as well.

"It's a bezoar, Professor."

"Sorry, new girl. I don't care what your name is. Santana answered first. Ten points to Pentagon," Professor Sylvester said casually.

Brittany pouted. She looked to her far right and saw Santana smirked at her.

The similar things seemed to go on and on in class. Finally, the White House students stopped raising their hand altogether.

* * *

The class ended, but Brittany was still upset by the way Professor Sylvester treated her and her housemates.

"How could she do that?" Brittany asked her friends on their way to the Great Hall.

"She's always like this. You'll get used to it," Kurt told her.

Brittany saw Finn jogged towards them. He kissed Rachel and turned to her.

"Hey, Brittany. Did you decide about trying out for our quidditch team?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe there are other people who can play better than me," Brittany replied humbly.

"Actually, there are only a few people who want to try out," Finn told her.

"Come on, Brittany. It will be fun. Also, since you don't have to be a Prefect, maybe you might want to find some other activities to do, right?" Rachel pointed out.

Brittany agreed with her. "All right. I'll try out. But I don't have a broom, though."

"That wouldn't be a problem. You can use mine!" a voice spoke up loudly.

Brittany turned around to see Sugar behind her. She did not know how long Sugar had been standing there.

Sugar continued. "I have the latest, most upgraded version of _Icebolt_. I flew with it a few times, but I got bored. "

"You would lend me your Icebolt? That's super nice of you, Sugar," Brittany thanked her.

"No. I'll give it to you. It's a gift for my favorite new friend," Sugar told her and giggled.

"Thanks so much, Sugar," Brittany hugged her because she knew how much Sugar loved hugging.

After they hugged, Sugar took out her wand. " _Accio Icebolt._ "

A broom with dark wood and bright blue end flew out of nowhere into Sugar's hand.

"I didn't have to say 'accio _my_ Icebolt' because it's the only Icebolt here, you know?" Sugar bragged and gave Brittany her broom.

The broom fit in Brittany's palm like it belonged to her. She saw Kurt rolled his eyes at Sugar, but he did not say anything. She turned to see Finn's eyes went wide.

"Oh my God. If you're chosen to be the new Seeker, this broom is going to help our team a lot, Brittany. It's currently the fastest broom in the world," Finn said while his eyes were still on the broom.

"That would be cool. I just hope I'm even chosen," Brittany replied.

"You'll never know till you try. See you tomorrow at the pitch," Finn told her and walked away.

* * *

Today was quite cloudy. It made Brittany more nervous about the try-out. Brittany changed into White House's quidditch gear and joined the team and other candidates, which were Artie Abrams and Sam Evans. Both of them were in fifth year.

Brittany saw her friends and some White House students came to support them.

Finn told them to get on their brooms. Brittany was amazed how Artie, who was usually in a wheelchair, could easily get on his broom and balanced himself. He was also small, which would make him a fast Seeker.

As for Sam, she found him very athletic. Brittany had a feeling that it would be very hard to beat the two of them.

"Okay. Let's gather around," Finn started. "The rule is easy. You might think a Seeker has to be fast. That's important, too. But the only one job you need to do is finding and catching the snitch before the other team. Who catches the snitch first will be our new Seeker."

Brittany listened to every word he said. Her legs hugged around her broom tightly.

"Are you ready?" Finn asked the three candidates.

Everyone nodded.

He brought out the golden snitch and threw it up. "Go!"

When Brittany and other two candidates kicked themselves off the ground, the snitch was already out of their sight.

Brittany saw Sam and Artie went to opposite directions, so she decided to fly up vertically. It took seconds for her to be on top of the pitch. Brittany inhaled deeply. She loved the fresh morning air and how it was quiet up here.

She narrowed her eyes in hoping to catch a gold glimpse of the snitch that might reflect by sunlight. But the clouds slowly made their way to cover the sun.

 _How am I gonna find it now?_

The girl looked down and saw Sam suddenly sped up his broom and went under the West stand. Brittany quickly followed him. Artie seemed to notice him as well because he was also heading to the same direction.

The two of them arrived just in time to see the snitch went out at the end of the stand and Sam was sitting on the ground. His hand was on his forehead. His broom lied uselessly a few feet away from him.

Brittany saw Artie quickly pursued the snitch. Before she did the same, she noticed that Sam was bleeding.

"Woah, Sam. You're bleeding," Brittany got off the broom and told him.

"Yeah, I knocked my head. I'll just walk back to Finn now."

"You should stay down. I'll go get help."

"It's okay. You should go after the snitch. Artie is already ahead of you," Sam told her.

"I'll go get help," Brittany said firmly.

She got on her broom and flew out to Finn.

"Finn, Sam is hurt. He's under the West stand," Brittany barely stopped when she told Finn.

She looked for Artie and found him flying around in circle. It seemed like he lost the sight of the snitch again.

The clouds now completely covered the sun, which made it harder for them to look for the snitch.

 _Come on, snitchy. Show yourself._

Brittany flew to the top of the arena again. When the light dimmed down, everything seemed to be even quieter.

 _Quiet. Yes._ Brittany thought and closed her eyes.

She registered each sound one by one. _That's the wind. That's the birds singing. And that's…_

She heard a flutter sound from somewhere on her down left. It was sharper and more frequent than the sound of birds' wings. It was the sound that could be caused by only one thing.

 _That's snitchy._

Brittany, with her eyes closed, slowly made her way to the sound. She did not want to speed up because she could hear better this way. When the sound was close enough, she opened her eyes.

The golden snitch was right in front of her. Brittany smiled and easily wrapped her right hand around it.

She flew back to Finn and was welcomed by the sound of her housemates cheering and clapping.

"That was a great tactic, Brittany. Welcome to the team," Finn patted on her back a little too hard, but Brittany did not mind.

Artie flew back as well and congratulated her. Brittany saw a boy standing up among the crowd. It was Sam with a white bandage on his head.

"And might I add, when I knocked my head under the stand, Brittany stopped to make sure I was okay. Let's clap for her again!" Sam told everyone.

The crowd clapped loudly and some of them even chanted her name.

Brittany blushed and grinned from ear to ear. She bowed her head down.

 _I think I'm gonna like it here._

* * *

Brittany changed into her casual clothes and reunited with her friends.

When they were walking out of the quidditch pitch, they were greeted by the sight of Santana, Quinn and two muscular Pentagon boys.

"Wow. I just wanna see who my Beaters, Puck and Dave here, have to beat this year. I can't believe it's you," Santana spoke with her arms crossed.

Brittany looked at her and at the two boys. One of the boys had a mohawk and seemed grumpy. The other boy was taller and bigger. He seemed grumpy as well. Brittany thought he almost looked like a bear.

"So, I guess you play quidditch, too?" Brittany asked Santana.

"Yes, and I'm a Seeker, which is why _you_ are in my way."

Brittany stepped aside and spoke casually. "I'm not blocking your way now."

Santana frowned her brows. She seemed to be confused by this gesture. Brittany saw Quinn trying her best to suppress her laugh.

"Brittany, you're so funny. I like you." Quinn told her sincerely.

"Thanks. But I'm not sure why you think that." Brittany replied.

"Well,…" Quinn started.

"Shut up, Quinn. If you wanna have a girls chat with her, do it when I'm not around," Santana told her best friend and then turned to Brittany.

"You know what? I don't think you're gonna be a problem after all. Because one, you became a Seeker by beating a disabled boy and Sammy Trouty Mouth, who is basically a sea animal. And two, you used a cheat broom," Santana spoke and looked at the Icebolt in Brittany's hand.

"Isn't your broom _Nimbus Roxket_ , which is the second fastest broom in the world?" Rachel chimed in.

"I wasn't talking to you, Berry," Santana snapped at Rachel. "Anyway, _adios_."

Santana and her friends walked past them into the quidditch pitch. She purposely bumped her shoulder into Brittany's.

Brittany's eyes followed her. She could not help but think about all the things Santana had said and done to her in these few days. _Maybe she's actually horrible like everyone said. And maybe I'm not really a good Seeker._

Brittany's emotion must have showed on her face, because Kurt spoke up.

"Come on, Britt. Don't think too much of what she said. You deserve to be our Seeker."

"Yes, I agree with Kurt. Now let's go to our dorm to celebrate," Mercedes wrapped her arm around Brittany's and led the way.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry to keep you waiting. Midterm exam is a bitch.**  
 **Hope you enjoy this chapter. :)**


	5. Election

The Prefect election came two days after the Seeker try-out. Brittany felt like she barely had any free time this week.

Yesterday she and her friends spent the whole day walking around the school to campaign for the votes for one last time. She went with Rachel, when Mercedes went with Kurt. Rachel and Kurt already promised not to be upset no matter who among them would win.

The students from both Houses gathered around in the Great Hall, where the dining tables were already moved aside and the voting booths were set up. In the middle of the room, there was a big goblet with purple fire in it. Brittany reckoned if it was the same goblet that was used in Triwizard Tournament in the UK in 1994.

"It looks like…," Brittany started.

"The Goblet of Fire, I know," Rachel finished the sentence for her. "But it's not. The Goblet of Fire is in a museum in… I can't remember. What's wrong with me? I can't think of anything right now."

Rachel grabbed Brittany's upper arms and shook her lightly. She made a weird face when she saw that Brittany was wearing both Kurt's and Rachel's badges.

Brittany found the gesture amusing, but she had to ask. "Rachel, are you okay?"

"Of course not! I'm so nervous. Oh my God. Let's get it over with."

Rachel led them to the White House's seventh year's Prefect, who had the ballots in his hand.

"Hey Adam. Can I have four ballots, please?" Rachel asked him.

"Sure," He smiled and handed them the ballots.

He then turned to Brittany. "You're Brittany, right? I used to date your cousin… until I realized I was gay."

"That's good for you, Adam," Brittany told him genuinely.

"Not so good for Courtney, though," he joked. "Anyway, I'm really excited about the election this year. We'll have, not only one, but two new Prefects in our House."

"Whom are you voting for?" Rachel asked him.

Adam made a zip hand gesture over his lips and proceeded to wish Rachel luck.

Brittany and Rachel walked over to Kurt and Mercedes who had just entered the hall. Kurt did not seem as nervous as Rachel, or he was better at hiding it.

Rachel handed the ballots to her friends without saying any words. When she was handing a ballot to Kurt, he pulled her into a hug.

"Good luck, Rach," Kurt mumbled during the hug.

"Good luck, Kurt," Rachel told him.

"Aw, I think I'm gonna cry," Mercedes looked at her friends and put a hand on her chest.

"Good luck, guys," Brittany told Kurt and Rachel.

She was making her way to a voting booth when Rachel grabbed her arm.

"Wait, Brittany, whom are you voting for?"

Brittany made a zip hand gesture over her lips and shrugged.

At the booth, Brittany took her time to look at the ballot. There were two sections on the paper for fifth year's Prefect and sixth year's Prefect. She brought out her quill and made an _X_ mark in front of Sugar's name on the fifth year's section without a doubt.

She looked at the sixth year's section. Rachel's name and Kurt's name were written in order, followed by Jacob Ben Israel's name. And there was a blank at the bottom.

 _It's for writing in a name, I guess._

Brittany could not decide whom she would vote for yet.

 _Maybe I should just write in Mercedes' name. No, that would be wrong. Kurt and Rachel worked hard for this._

In the end, she spun her quill randomly, and the tip of it landed on Kurt's name.

 _Sorry, Rachel._ Brittany thought and made an _X_ mark in front of _Kurt Hummel_.

Brittany walked out to put the ballot in the goblet, and then walked to her friends.

"Look, Rachel. I'm sorry that I had to vote for Kurt. I just followed my quill," she quickly told Rachel.

"It's okay. Don't worry about it. I would do the same," Rachel replied and patted on her shoulder.

She seemed calm now.

"Thank you, Britt. And thanks your quill, too," Kurt said and grinned at Brittany.

"I voted for Rachel," Mercedes said casually.

"What?" Kurt turned his head swiftly to Mercedes. "I don't mind, but I wanna know why."

"Because she promised to ask Headmaster Figgins to start a Glee club."

"Fair enough. I'll note that down if I win," Kurt nodded. "Let's go sit."

The four friends found a bench to sit on and waited for the announcement of the results.

After the last student put his ballot in the goblet, Brittany saw Adam walked into the room behind the Great Hall.

It did not take long until Headmaster Figgins walked out of the room and approached the goblet. He was in a bright green gown today. The Headmaster did not waste his time.

"New Prefects, when you hear your names, please go join the other Prefects in the Trophy Room."

Brittany felt someone tapped on her shoulder. She turned around to see Sugar, whose face looked pale today. Brittany figured it was because she was nervous.

"Sugar, I voted for you," Brittany told her in order to make her feel better.

"Thanks. I voted for you, too," Sugar beamed.

"What?"

"I wrote in your name. What else would I do?" Sugar said and shrugged.

"Sugar, that's…," Brittany started, but she was interrupted by the Headmaster's voice.

"We'll start with Pentagon's fifth year's Prefect," Headmaster Figgins unfolded the paper in his hand and read. "Mister Sebastian Smythe. Please go join your seniors, Miss Lopez and Mister St. James, in the room."

A tall and slim boy with brown hair shook his fist in the air and ran to the Trophy Room.

"White House's fifth year's Prefect…," Headmaster Figgins continued. "Miss Sugar Motta."

Sugar screamed in high pitch voice and jumped up and down. Brittany hugged her and looked at her walking towards the Trophy Room. Sugar high-fived her fellow housemates on the way there.

Brittany turned to her friends and all four of them held their hands together. She felt Kurt's palm sweated in her hand.

"White House's sixth year's Prefect…," Headmaster Figgins started. "This is rare."

Brittany turned to look at Kurt and Rachel. Their faces were even paler than Sugar's.

"I have checked the goblet now. There is nothing wrong with it. So the White House's sixth year's Prefect is…" the Headmaster continued to speak.

Brittany could feel Kurt's hand tighten around hers.

"…Miss Brittany Pierce."

The crowd cheered loudly. But for Brittany, she could not hear anything at that moment. She was going to turn to look at her friends, when Kurt's hand left hers.

Brittany felt like his gesture broke her heart, but she forced herself to turn to look at him.

"Kurt…," she started, but she could not find her words when she saw Kurt being on the verge of tears.

"Why? I don't understand," Kurt asked her.

His face was starting to turn red.

"Kurt, I really don't know…," Brittany did not know what to say next.

She reached for his hand, but he flinched away.

"Brittany, I know it's not your fault that you're popular. But when will someone like Rachel and I have our turn?"

"Maybe this is a mistake. Maybe the goblet…"

"It's not. I'm sorry, but I can't be around you right now," Kurt turned around and ran out of the Great Hall.

Brittany looked at Rachel. She did not seem as upset as Kurt, but Brittany could tell that the same thing went through her mind.

"Congratulations, Brittany," that was all Rachel said before she followed Kurt outside.

Brittany wanted to follow them, but at that moment she felt numb and could not move.

"I… have to go see them," Mercedes told Brittany softly. "They'll be okay. Just go to the Trophy Room, Britt."

"But…," Brittany found her feet starting to follow her friend, but she was interrupted when other housemates coming to congratulate her.

"Students, let Miss Pierce go to the Trophy Room. We're already behind schedule," Headmaster Figgins spoke up and walked towards the Trophy Room.

"I voted for you, Brittany. So did my brother and sister and their friends," Brittany heard Sam's voice from somewhere among the students, but she was not in a state to respond.

 _Did I just lose all of my friends?_

Brittany let herself follow the flow of the crowd, which led her to the Trophy Room.

She slowly opened the door and walked in. She found the Prefects of both Houses sitting around the room. Headmaster Figgins stood in the middle of the room and was writing something down in his notebook.

Adam and Sugar rose from their seats and approached her.

"Welcome to the team, Brittany," Adam shook her hand.

When he pulled his hand away, Brittany found a Prefect badge in her palm.

"Aw, Brittany. I can't believe it!" Sugar hugged her more tightly than usual.

When Sugar let go of her, Brittany was approached by the third student.

"What is this? You didn't even run for it! How is this even possible?" Santana sounded half-mad and half-curious.

Brittany was not surprised that Santana reacted like this, but she did not know what to say.

"Come on, Santana. This isn't about you," Adam chimed in.

"Why don't you act like a seventh year student and mind your own business like preparing for _N.E.W.T._ or finding a job after graduation, _Adam's apple_?" Santana replied and cocked one of her eyebrows.

Adam seemed to be lost for words.

"Miss Lopez, Miss Pierce won fair and square by write-in votes," Headmaster Figgins said calmly.

"Are you sure? Because, not only one, but _two_ spawns of rich people have just won. I bet they bribed their way in," Santana said and turned to Sugar and Brittany. "Didn't ya?"

"No, we didn't. People just like us, which is more than I can say for you," Sugar replied while looking at her nails.

Santana started to walk towards Sugar slowly. "What did you just say?"

"Miss Lopez, please come back to your seat and behave like a Prefect you deserve to be," Headmaster Figgins spoke again flatly.

Santana did not do as he asked. She spun around to face him.

"Deserve? I don't think ' _deserve_ ' has anything to do with being a Prefect anymore. You know how hard it was for me to become a Prefect? I came up with all the campaigns. And even though, I don't like them, Berry or Hummel should have been here instead of _her_." Santana was still facing the Headmaster when she pointed at Brittany. "Pierce here obviously bribed her way in or just rode her cousin's coattails when we all know that she's not as talented as…"

"Don't you think I know that!?" It was not the first time Brittany yelled, but it was the first time in a very long time.

Santana turned to her. Her expression showed that she was surprised by Brittany's reaction.

Brittany ignored her and walked pass her towards the Headmaster.

"Headmaster Figgins, there must be some mistake. Maybe the goblet didn't work correctly."

"I have checked it twice already, Miss Pierce. You really did win," the Headmaster confirmed with her and continued. "Though, if you do not wish to be a Prefect, you can resign. The resignation will be effective immediately."

Brittany registered what she had just heard. She looked around the room and the people in it one by one. The two Pentagon's Prefect boys could not care less about what was going on.

She turned to look at Adam and Sugar who both shook their heads asking her not to resign.

And then she looked at Santana Lopez.

Brittany expected to see Santana smirk or try to say something to urge her to resign. Instead, the Pentagon Prefect just looked at her curiously, waiting for her to decide.

A sound rang in her head. _'She obviously bribed her way in or just rode her cousin's coattails'_

Brittany knew wholeheartedly that this was a chance to make things right with Rachel and Kurt. But she also knew that accepting to be a Prefect would upset Santana.

' _We all know that she's not as talented as Courtney'. That was what she was going to say._

The same sentences repeated in Brittany's head over and over again. Brittany did not know a person could make her so angry that it was overwhelming.

She spoke loudly enough for the whole room to hear, but her eyes were still on Santana to make sure she heard every word of it.

"I'm accepting to be a Prefect."


	6. Every Friday From Now on

Headmaster Figgins did not kept them long. He let the Prefects know that they would have a meeting every Monday. And Brittany and Santana would have sixth year's Prefect meeting every Friday.

Brittany left the Trophy Room and stood in the Great Hall. Most students were already gone. She looked around hoping to find her friends, but no one was in sight.

She heard a movement behind when Santana stepped up to stand next to her.

"Looking for your friends? I'm sure Elf and Elf's ears were _thrilled_ that you won the election," Santana spoke.

"Elf and Elf's what? I don't know what you're talking about," Brittany frowned.

"Okay. Let me spell it out for you. Elf is Berry, who is very, very short," Santana turned to Brittany and explained.

She lifted her right hand up to Rachel's height.

Brittany almost chuckled because Santana was not much taller than Rachel.

Santana continued. "And Elf's ears is Hummel. I mean, look at his ears."

"Oh my God. You think his ears are like elf's?" Brittany suddenly got excited. "Me too! They are so cute!"

Santana was stunned by the reaction. She spoke up a moment later.

"I'm gonna go now. Because every time I tried to insult you or your friends, you either changed the subject or said things that made me confused."

Santana walked away without saying another words.

Since all classes were cancelled on Election Day, Brittany went back to the White House's dormitory. She was hoping to find Kurt, Rachel and Mercedes in the living room, but instead, she was welcomed with a party.

The room was filled with white balloons, and silver confetti that would never stop falling from the ceiling. Food and beverages were on every table in the room.

Many students she had never spoken to came to introduce themselves to her, including the Asian girl, whom Brittany remembered she was one of Sugar's friends.

"Nice to meet you, Tina. Have you seen Kurt, Rachel or Mercedes?" Brittany asked her.

"Sorry, no. I haven't seen them since I came back here," Tina replied.

Brittany was starting to worry about her friends. She drank a glass of pumpkin juice and excused herself.

Brittany spent the whole afternoon walking around the school and looking for her friends, but she did not succeed in finding them. Not even when she went to the Great Hall for dinner. The girl waited until the dinner time was over, but her friends still did not show up. Brittany determined that if she did not find them in the dormitory, she would report them as missing.

There was nobody in the living room, so Brittany went to her shared bedroom. She turned on the light and was startled by the sight of Rachel sitting on her bed.

"Hey, Brittany," Rachel lifted her right hand up, but did not wave.

"Rachel, I was so worried about you. I couldn't find you anywhere," Brittany walked over to her friend.

"We went out to _Breadstix_ to clear our mind."

"What is that?"

"It's a muggle restaurant in town. We'll take you there someday."

"That would be awesome," Brittany replied. "Look, Rachel. I want to talk to you about…"

"I know. The election, right?" Rachel finished the sentence for her. "I want to apologize for acting like it's your fault. Sometimes I tend to make everything all about myself."

"No, I understand. Like, you guys worked really hard for it. You should have been a Prefect instead of me."

"I'm sure you're going to be a great Prefect, Brittany. I will also be more than happy to help you with everything."

"Thank you, Rachel. So you're not mad at me anymore?"

"I was never mad at you. I was just disappointed that people did not give us a chance."

"I'm so sorry about that."

"You don't have to be sorry about anything. Remember when I told Kurt if he won, I would feel like I won? I feel the same now."

Brittany attacked Rachel with a hug that almost knocked her off the bed.

"Will you still feel the same if I told you that Headmaster Figgins gave me a chance to resign, and I didn't take it?" Brittany asked Rachel after letting go of her.

Rachel gasped, but quickly replied. "I won't be mad if you pay for us the next time we go to Breadstix. Kurt and Mercedes don't carry muggle money, so I always have to pay for them."

"I don't have muggle money either."

"You can trade your galleons with me," Rachel said excitedly.

"Deal," Brittany grinned at Rachel.

She was glad the same Rachel was back.

"So, where are Kurt and Mercedes?"

"Mercedes went to the library. And well, Kurt…"

"What happened to Kurt, Rachel?" Brittany urged her to continue.

"Kurt is, well,… drunk."

"What? How did that happen?"

"Well, after we left Breadstix, we went to a shop to buy _Cherikee Red_. I think the owner was drunk and heard us wrongly, because he gave us a bottle of red wine with the label _Grape Sensation_ instead. He didn't even check our age, and we all thought it was grape juice."

"Oh"

"The owner passed out, so we couldn't ask for Cherikee Red. Then, we left the shop, and Kurt opened the bottle and guzzled… a lot. Before I took a sip and realized it was red wine, he already started to talk funny."

"Oh. But he's okay now, right?"

"Yep, he's sleeping peacefully in his bed now."

Brittany let out a sign of relief.

"Wait, as a Prefect, you wouldn't report us for underage drinking, right?" Rachel quickly asked.

"Of course, not. You guys didn't mean to," Brittany reassured her friend and added. "Even if you meant to, I would let this one slide."

"You're the best," Rachel got up and hugged Brittany. "Let's go to bed. We need our beauty sleep."

"Yep, and because I'm simply sleepy," Brittany replied and changed into her pajamas.

Before Brittany drifted off to sleep, she heard Rachel's voice speak up in the dark.

"So, why didn't you resign?"

"This might sound silly, but I accepted to be a Prefect to piss Santana off," Brittany replied without opening her eyes.

"That's never silly. You're gonna kick her ass."

"I don't know. I just hate fighting with her, or anyone."

"Then you're already kicking her ass metaphorically."

"I don't know that word. But I think I understand what you mean."

"Great. Good night, Brit."

"Good night, Rachel."

* * *

 _IF YOU WANNA BE MY LOVER, YOU BETTER GET WITH MY FRIEND!_

Brittany woke up and found that Mercedes was already back in the room. She changed into new clothes and waited till her friends woke up. The girls went to living room and learned from Sam that Kurt was still in a hangover and would not make it to breakfast.

The three decided to get him a bowl of mushroom soup and visited him at his bed.

When they arrived at the boys' bedroom, Kurt was already awake. He was in a white tank top and covered in a blanket. Brittany had never seen his hair this messy.

"Aw, my girls brought me soup," Kurt said from his bed.

"Of course. How are you feeling?" Mercedes asked him.

"Like I was punched by a troll after he farted in my face."

Rachel scrunched her nose and replied. "That's disgusting."

Kurt turned to Brittany. "Brit, I guess we have to talk about the election."

"I'm so sorry that you didn't win, Kurt," Brittany reached her hand out to touch his shoulder.

"Don't be. I think I overreacted when I should have congratulated you."

"Before you say anything else, I have to tell you that I also didn't resign when I had a chance," Brittany mumbled.

Kurt gaped and started to speak. "That's…"

"…settled. Because Brittany would pay for us the next time we go to Breadstix!" Rachel interrupted him.

"That's amazing!" Kurt blurted out excitedly and tried to get up.

"You should rest, Kurt. You drank like half a bottle of red wine," Mercedes told him.

"I thought it was grape juice. Did I do something that I should regret?" Kurt asked all three of them.

"Nah, you just tried to kiss Sam. But you didn't," Mercedes waved her hand like it was no big deal.

"Oh my God," Kurt covered his mouth and spoke from behind his hand. "Anything else?"

"And you said something funny like Dave Karofsky might be gay. Like how is that even possible? The Big Bear Karofsky? He always tried to look under my skirt," Rachel babbled.

"Yeah, you're… right," Kurt replied quietly and quickly changed the subject. "So, who else won the election? I was so focused on the six year's result that I didn't pay attention to them."

"Sugar and Sebastian Smythe," Brittany told him.

"Good for Sugar. And that Sebastian guy is evil. He always carries a bottle of pumpkin slushie with him just to throw it in our House's students' faces. You should cast a protection spell whenever you see him," Kurt told Brittany.

"I will," Brittany said and continued. "So, do you guys have any suggestions for our school? I'm having a sixth year's Prefect meeting this Friday."

"Glee club," Kurt, Rachel and Mercedes said in unison.

"Okies. I'll note that down," Brittany smiled at her friends and grabbed a quill on Kurt's nightstand to write on her hand. "Anything else?"

"Just rule wisely. Rule fabulously," Kurt grabbed Brittany's hand and told her.

* * *

Brittany arrived at the Trophy Room on time. But like in Potions class, Santana was already there. Headmaster Figgins asked her to sit on the seat on his right, which was the opposite of where Santana was sitting.

"So, children, welcome to the first sixth year's Prefect meeting of the semester," the Headmaster got right to the point as usual. "As you both know, Miss Pierce is new here. So I have to tell you that after every meeting, you both will be assigned to a task of the week."

"I'm so excited to spend my precious time with you," Santana told Brittany from across the table with the tone that was the opposite of 'excited'.

Brittany decided not to reply.

Headmaster Figgins continued. "Is there anything that you two would like me to know this week?"

"Well, Professor Holliday almost burned the whole classroom down again this week, sir," Santana told him. "I think she is unfit to be a professor."

"Miss Lopez, nobody had complained about this matter except you and a few Pentagon students. And no students was ever injured in her class."

"That's because we were lucky," Santana crossed her arms and replied.

"I trust Professor Holliday to handle the situation if anything gets out of hand. And she teaches with this routine only with fifth year students and above, because we trust that you could take care of yourself."

"You know, it would take only one bad day and someone might just die because of her," Santana insisted.

Brittany noticed how passionate she was about this subject.

"All right. If I receive more complaints from students, I will have a talk with Professor Holliday," Headmaster Figgins said.

"I would fire her, but I'm not the Headmaster. So thank you for even considering to talk to her, sir," Santana replied and added. "I guess."

Brittany could tell that Headmaster Figgins was not happy with Santana's attitude, but he did not make a comment. He, then, turned to Brittany.

"Miss Pierce, do you have anything else to add?"

"Well, my friends and I have been talking. And we think that we should have a Glee club at our sch…,"

"Lame," Santana cut her off with a drawling voice.

"Miss Lopez, I thought you might be interested in this subject because you sang at Yule Ball last year and will probably do it again this year," Headmaster Figgins turned to Santana.

"That's because I can sing and I need to show off my skills. But having a Glee club would waste school budget because only Pierce and her minion trio would wanna join," Santana replied and glanced at Brittany when she mentioned her last name.

"They're not my minions," Brittany spoke quietly.

"Whatever," Santana retorted.

Once again Headmaster Figgins ignored her. "Miss Pierce, I'll note your suggestion down. But at the moment, we could not afford to have any more activity club."

Brittany nodded understandingly. She told herself not to look at Santana, because she believed Santana would do something to mock her.

"If you don't have anything else to add, the meeting is dismissed," Headmaster Figgins told them. "After you leave the room, please do me a favor and patrol the hallways. I have a feeling that new students might want to break the rules."

Brittany and Santana said good night to the Headmaster and left the room.

"So, which floor should we start first?" Brittany asked Santana after she closed the door behind them.

"Why don't we do what your cousin and I always did? We took turn on doing the task each week, so we didn't have to see each other's face too often," Santana said it like it was the most reasonable thing to do.

"Well, I disagree. Working together would be more effective and waste less time," Brittany said.

"It would waste less time if you just go to bed and let me finish this task in peace."

"Santana, come on. Let me help you," Brittany offered.

"You wanna do it? Fine," Santana replied.

Brittany started to smile when Santana added. "I'll go to bed and do the next week's task then."

Before Brittany could find a word to reply, Santana already reached the stairway that led to her dormitory in the dungeons.

 _Why is it so hard to be friends with her? Why do I keep trying?_

Brittany sighed and started doing her task.


	7. See Who Lands on Top

Brittany decided to start patrolling from the top floor to the lower floors. She found two of new Pentagon students tried to break into Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"Hi, guys. What are you doing?" Brittany greeted them.

"Prefect! Run!" the boy shouted and ran away as soon as he saw Brittany.

"Okay, if you can stop him, I won't write your name down and report to Headmaster Figgins," Brittany told the Pentagon girl calmly.

" _Locomotor Wibbly_ ," the girl took out her wand and pointed to her friend who ran away.

The boy's legs shook and he fell on the ground.

"Smart girl," Brittany told the girl. "Follow me."

They walked over to the boy who was still sitting on the ground. Brittany helped him get up.

"I don't know why you tried to run away. I was hoping I would join you guys for whatever you were doing," Brittany told them.

"Really? We were going to steal some Fairy Sp-…" the boy said.

"Shut up, Noel. She just wants to get information from you," the girl cut her friend off.

"You're right, smart girl. Why do guys want Fairy Spark Dust anyway?" Brittany asked them directly.

"Scarlet said my teeth are yellow. I want them to be whiter," Noel replied.

"Noel! You just said my name! Now she can write it down and report to the Headmaster!" the girl turned to her friend and widened her eyes.

"I won't, as promised," Brittany said and turned to Noel. "I don't think your teeth are bad. Most people' teeth are yellow, you know?"

"Yeah, I guess," Noel replied.

"Do you brush your teeth? Or have a lot of candies?" Brittany kneeled down and asked the boy.

"No and yes."

"Yeah, you can start by doing the opposite now," Brittany told him and patted his head.

"Don't touch him. You're being so nice. You must have some ulterior motives," Scarlet said.

"No, I don't. You know what, smart g-… Scarlet? You're starting to remind me of your Prefect, Santana," Brittany told her and added. "A mini Santana."

"Santana is the most awesome person ever. Why are you complimenting me? What do you want from me?" Scarlet crossed her arms and asked.

"Nothing," Brittany tried her best to suppress her smile when she saw Scarlet crossing her arms like Santana always did. "Why don't you guys follow me?"

Brittany led the first-year Pents towards their dormitory in the dungeons. But on the second floor she was greeted with the sight of the boy with a mohawk, who was leaning against the wall.

"Um, Puck, right?" Brittany asked him. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm a sixth-year student. It hasn't passed my curfew yet," Puck replied without moving or looking at Brittany.

"I know. I was just curious. We'll go now," Brittany told him.

Before they walked pass him, she saw him taking out a slim black rectangle object out of his pocket. He started to tap his thumbs repeatedly on it.

"What is that? Is that _the telephone_?" Brittany got excited and walked over to take a closer look at the object.

She was sure she saw her name and Santana's name on it before Puck quickly pulled it away.

"Why were my name and Santana's name on the telephone?" Brittany kept on asking him.

"Can you leave me alone?" Puck asked back.

"Not until you explain everything," Brittany replied with firm voice.

"Okay. First off, you can call this a phone or a cell phone. I was _texting_ Santana," Puck told her.

"Teching? What is that? I thought you could only call people on a... phone."

"Texting is like sending messages. Can you go away now?"

"You haven't told me why my name was on it."

"Fine. Santana asked me to check on you," Puck replied and mumbled. "Crap. You're not supposed to know that."

"What?" Brittany could not believe what she just heard.

"Santana asked me to check on you in case you screwed up, you know? Because you both would be in trouble. I mean, _she_ would be in trouble. I mean, she wouldn't care if you were in trouble," Puck rambled.

"What?"

"Just forget it. It's cool that you finished the task," Puck said and turned to the first year students. "How many House points did these little ones lose?"

"Oh, I totally forgot to punish them. Thanks for reminding me," Brittany told Puck.

"I wish I didn't say anything," Puck replied.

"Well, I'm gonna deduct ten points each. So twenty points from Pentagon," Brittany told the three of them.

"Man, Santana would have taken twenty for each of them," Puck told her.

"Well, maybe I'll do that next time," Brittany replied and kneeled down to talk to the two young Pentagon students. "But I hope there will be no next time."

The boy nodded eagerly when the girl just crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.

"Hey, why don't you let me take them back to our dorm?" Puck offered.

"Um, I don't think I should do that," Brittany said.

"What? You think I would take them to destroy school property or something? I wouldn't do that to my sister," Puck said and pointed his chin towards Scarlet.

"What? You didn't say anything when you saw her."

"Because she doesn't want people to know that," he walked over to put his hand on her shoulder. "Right, Scarly?"

"Ugh, your hair is so embarrassing," Scarlet said and rolled her eyes again.

"Fine. You can take them. But if you do anything else besides taking them back to the dorm, I'll tell Santana that I know she sent you to check on me," Brittany told Puck.

"That's why I wanted to help you in the first place. I don't want you to rat me out," Puck shrugged and walked away with the two younger students.

 _Of course, she doesn't trust me to do the task alone. But why did Puck ramble like that?_ Brittany thought on the way back to her dormitory.

* * *

Brittany felt like the first quidditch match of the school year came earlier than she anticipated. She was busy with the Prefect job and the quidditch practice itself that it made her sometimes forgot the date of the first match. She finished all the homework three days ago, just so she could focus on the match today.

Brittany had only a piece of cake and a glass of pumpkin juice, and walked to the quidditch pitch with her friends. After Kurt, Rachel and Mercedes departed to the stand, she went to the dressing room to change into her white jersey with the silver 'Pierce' and number 6 written on the back of it.

On the way out of the room, she met Santana and Quinn who were talking.

Brittany was in awe. Santana looked elegant in black quidditch uniform with tips of gold here and there. She was also wearing a black cape with her last name and number 7 written in gold on it.

"What are you looking at?" Santana's voice brought Brittany back from staring too long.

Brittany did not know how to reply, but Santana continued shortly.

"That's right. Just take a look on the person who's gonna kick your ass today."

Brittany shook her head and tried to walk away. She was tired of fighting with Santana with no reasons.

"Where are you going? I was talking to y-" Santana tried to follow her but she was held back by Quinn, who also put her hand on her best friend's mouth.

"Brittany, go!" Quinn told Brittany.

Brittany grinned at Quinn and walked away. She loved how Santana's attempts to fight with her turned into something silly whenever Quinn was around.

Brittany walked to join her teammates in the other room. Finn wished everyone luck and joined their hands together. The team walked into the pitch, got on their brooms and flew to their positions.

Brittany saw Santana on her _Nimbus Roxket_ on the opposite side. Santana was looking at her as well.

Madam Beiste showed up with the quidditch balls box and walked to the middle of the pitch. She kicked open the box and let the bludgers and the golden snitch go.

Brittany tried to see where the snitch went, but it was too far. Her focus came back to Madam Beiste when she blew the whistle and threw the quaffle in the air.

Every player in the field flew out of their positions to do their job. The commotion made it harder to look for the snitch, so Brittany did the reasonable thing by flying up high above the pitch.

She was starting to close her eyes and use her "focus on the sound" tactic when Santana's voice chimed in.

"I don't think it's wise to sleep during a quidditch match."

"Leave me alone, Santana," Brittany said and flew away from her.

"What? Following the competition isn't against the rules," Santana spoke while flying after Brittany.

"I'm ignoring you," Brittany told her.

"Fine by me. I'll just wait until you find the snitch and then I'll snatch it before you."

Brittany did not reply and looked around the pitch again. She changed the spot and did the same thing several times while Santana was still following her.

It took a long while until Brittany spotted a gold spark on her down left. She flew there on her broom with the top speed with Santana in hot pursuit. When she stopped in the area, Santana was facing her with a smirk on her face.

Brittany ignored her again and looked around. She spotted the golden snitch a few feet away on the left behind Santana, but she quickly looked away to deceive her competition.

 _She's gonna hear it soon. I have to distract her._

"Hey, Santana. What did you have for breakfast?"

 _Ah, what the hell did I just say? Why did I say that?_

Brittany could see on Santana's face that she was surprised by the question as well.

"Because you don't seem to get tired of following me. What kind of food gave you so much energy?" Brittany added and hoped Santana would reply something.

"What's with the random chatting? What are you trying to do?"

 _Not what I hoped she would reply, but at least she's focusing on me._

Brittany quickly glanced to the snitch again. It did not move too far away from the previous spot. However, she also saw a black object heading towards their way.

"A bludger is coming behind you," Brittany told Santana as soon as she saw what the object was.

"Do you really think I would believe that?" Santana replied and scoffed.

"Seriously. If you don't believe me, just see for yourself."

"I'm not letting out of my sight."

The bludger was coming closer and closer. Brittany thought of flying away, so Santana could follow her and get out of its way, but it was too late now.

"Damn it, Santana," Brittany said and flew towards Santana and pushed her out of the way without thinking.

Brittany cocked her head back just in time before the bludger could hit her. The black object flew pass between the two girls' heads. They were both unharmed, but they also lost their balance.

Before Brittany almost fell backwards, she grabbed the nearest object by instinct, which happened to be Santana's cape.

The girls were falling down with an unstable speed. Their arms, legs and their brooms tangled uncontrollably. The only thing that slowed them down at some points was the brooms, but they were not in the position that could bring their owners up.

At a few feet above the ground, Santana's Nimbus Roxket seemed to slip out of her reach, which caused her to fall on her back with Brittany on top of her.

"You're okay?" Brittany asked while trying to get off Santana.

She trailed her eyes to look at Santana's face when she did not hear the answer.

Santana's face was red and her eyes seemed to be darker than usual. Her lips parted. Her chest was heaving up and down from breathing hard, which Brittany could feel the vibration by straddling her.

Brittany could not tear her eyes away from the sight below her. She had never seen Santana so vulnerable and beautiful. Her eyes automatically flicked between Santana's eyes and lips, when something else distracted her.

There was a motion under Santana's cape over her right shoulder. Brittany reached her left hand out to lift up the cape slowly while Santana's eyes followed her hand. The girls could see the golden snitch hiding partially behind the cape.

Brittany gently wrapped her hand around it and brought it out. When Santana decided to do the same, it was already too late and she grabbed Brittany hand instead. Brittany could feel an electric ran through them after the contact, which was probably what caused Santana to pull her hand away.

Brittany turned to look at Santana's face again. This time, the other girl looked away.

Before Brittany could do anything else, her teammates were already on the ground and ran towards her.

"Great job, Brittany. We won!" Finn said helped her get up.

He also offered to help Santana, but she refused him and got up on her own.

"Brittany, I thought my bludger almost hit you," said Mike, one of the White House's beaters.

"It's okay. We're fine," Brittany replied and turned to look at Santana only to find her already walking away with her teammates.

The other White House players said something to her or among themselves, but Brittany hardly paid attention.

 _What just happened? I wanted to kiss her. And I think she would let me._


	8. Chris Pratt, Baby

Since the incident at the quidditch match happened, Santana had never said anything bad to Brittany again. In fact, they barely spoke unless it was about school's matters. Brittany caught herself staring at Santana many times in class and in the Great Hall. She hoped to interact with Santana at least once a day, but the only times they did that was at the Prefect meetings each week.

"Yule Ball is coming soon. I would like you two to think about the theme of the event," Headmaster Figgins started from the point.

"I never understand why we have Yule Ball so soon. Shouldn't we have it at the end of the school year like Prom for muggles?" Santana asked and furrowed her eyebrows.

"We have it early so the fifth year and seventh year students could focus on O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. at the end of the school year, Miss Lopez," the Headmaster explained.

"Let me guess, they're not gonna help us arranging Yule Ball even though we are the only three years that can attend," Santana said.

"As you already know, the sixth year's Prefects will have to take the main responsibility. But the other Prefects can also help if they are interested," Headmaster Figgins replied.

"I guess it's good, though. The less people involved, the faster we can decide for the theme," Santana said and glanced at Brittany, but quickly looked down at the table.

"Actually, I was thinking of asking some of my friends to help. They might have some cool ideas," Brittany spoke for the first time in the meeting.

"Fine. Whatever. Then I'll ask Quinn and Puck to join too," Santana said and shrugged.

"Cool. How about we meet after History of Magic class this Wednesday?" Brittany asked.

"Yeah. I guess we can do that." Santana replied while still looking at the table.

"Children, I am very delighted to see you two work together in peace," Headmaster Figgins said and smiled.

It was the first time Brittany saw him smile. She turned to look at Santana and expected to see her rolling her eyes, but Santana just sat still.

"Do you have anything else to add for this meeting?" the Headmaster asked both of the girls.

"Besides the fact that Professor Holliday gushed about ordering a little something-something to scare the third-year students, then no, sir," Santana said.

"I'll look into that matter," Headmaster Figgins said and added. "All right. The meeting is dismissed. The task for tonight is checking all the janitor's closets to make sure they are all locked. It's a wonder how the doors were busted open sometimes, but nothing was ever stolen."

Brittany knew what probably happened and she almost giggled out loud. Santana seemed to know it, too, because she pressed her lips together to suppress her smile. Brittany noticed the dimples on Santana's cheeks and stared at them until Santana spoke with the Headmaster.

"Sure, sir. We'll check them."

The girls got out of the Trophy Room. Santana was heading towards the nearest janitor's closet when Brittany quickly stepped after her.

"Wait. You said we would check them together."

"You already did the last week's task," Santana turned around and said.

"Yeah. But since we don't fight anymore, I figure that…"

"We don't fight anymore, but it doesn't mean I want to spend any more time with you," Santana cut her off.

Brittany could see a pang of regret in Santana's eyes after she said that. Even though the words hurt Brittany, she decided to let it go.

"Okay. Have fun securing the places where people make out."

Santana snorted out a laugh after she heard that, but she did not say anything.

"All right. See you on Wednesday," Brittany mumbled.

Santana nodded and returned to her task.

* * *

As usual, Professor Schuester dismissed the class early. Brittany asked him to use the room for Yule Ball committee meeting, and he agreed.

"Ugh, what he taught today was such a bullcrap," Santana said to Quinn.

"Then the whole History book is a bullcrap because he just read from the book," Quinn said and faked a yawn.

"Totes, sister," Santana replied and pointed at Quinn.

"So, are you guys ready?" Brittany walked over to the table Santana and Quinn were sitting at.

"Uh-huh," Quinn replied for the both of them.

"Where is Puck? I thought he would join us," Rachel stepped next to Brittany and asked Quinn.

"Oh, he skips classes sometimes," Quinn replied casually and turned to the door when she saw a movement. "Speaking of the _knarl_ on his head…"

"Sorry I'm late, guys. This little one decided to tag along even though I told her not to," Puck said and motioned to the little girl beside him.

"You know you can't tell me what to do, Noah. I heard four Whities will be in this room, so I don't want us to be outnumbered," Scarlet said with the tone like she was older than eleven-years-old.

"Hi, Scarlet. How have you been?" Brittany greeted and smiled at the first year student.

Scarlet did not replied. Instead, she glared at Brittany and ran to hug Santana.

"Scarly, I miss you! Is it me or _mini-me_ got so much cuter than last week?" Santana said and pinched the girl's cheeks gently.

"I'm not cute. I'm awesome," Scarlet replied and wiggled one eyebrow.

"That's my girl," Santana said and hugged the girl again.

Brittany looked at the interaction adoringly until Santana pulled away from the hug and turned to ask her.

"So, are we gonna start or what?"

"Not until Scarly hugs me. She always ignores me when Santana is around," Quinn said it like Scarlet was not in the room.

"That's not true," Scarlet said and hugged Quinn.

"What is she doing here? She's not even allowed to go to Yule Ball," Mercedes asked from the table behind, where she was sitting next to Kurt.

"But I might be allowed to jinx you," Scarlet snorted out a reply.

Mercedes found the whole situation funny and chuckled.

"I see that you have a _huge_ influence on this little girl, Santana," Kurt said lightly.

"What is that supposed to mean, Hummel?" Santana turned around to ask and narrowed her eyes.

"It means just like how you think it means," Kurt replied casually while stretching his arms.

Before Santana could say something back and might start a fight, Brittany interrupted them.

"Guys, we should get back to the topic so we can finally go to dinner, right?"

"Couldn't agree more. I heard they serve roasted turkey today," Puck said.

"I still don't know what the girl is doing here," Mercedes mumbled.

"Merlin's beard, Weezy. She just wanna hang out. It's not like she's going to Yule Ball or stealing your date, which you probably don't have," Santana snapped at Mercedes.

"That is so rude, Santana. Mercedes has a boyfriend, which is more than I can say for you," Rachel chimed in.

 _Wait, Santana doesn't have a boyfriend? But she's so pretty. Is it possible that she's…_ Brittany thought.

Unexpectedly, Santana did not reply anything to Rachel.

"That's why I told you to not sleep around, S. Guys won't take you seriously," Quinn said to Santana like they were the only two people in the room.

Brittany felt numb when she heard what Quinn said. She was not sure if it was because Santana was only into guys, or because she was jealous.

"Shut up, Q." Santana said and added. "For the sake of Merlin's ass, can you guys not mind my business and get back to the topic?"

"I agree. My abs is rumbling," Puck replied and stroked his stomach.

"Oh, and Scarly?" Santana ignored him and turned to his sister. "To shut Weezy up about why you're here, why don't you go fetch us some water, dear?"

"On it. I'll be right back," Scarlet replied and ran out of the room.

"She never fetches me water," Puck said.

"Because you suck, Puckerman," Santana said and continued. "All right, let's talk about the theme. Any idea?"

"Celtics," Kurt said. "Anything green, really. Imagine the Great Hall filled with clovers."

Santana made a wry face, but did not say anything.

"I'll note that all the ideas down, so we can decide later," Brittany said and pulled out her quill. "Anyone else?"

"I just want to make sure we will have a punch bowl," Puck raised his hand and said.

"We always have a punch bowl at Yule Ball," Quinn replied and added. "I just want to make sure I will win Yule Ball Queen."

"That would be a problem. Because I bet Pierce is running for it, because she always find a way to hog all the school's titles," Santana said and turned to Brittany. "Aren't you?"

"I'm not. Sugar told me earlier that she's going to run for it. And I have to convince Sam or Finn to run for Yule Ball King," Brittany replied.

"Wow. You're not running? What a nice surprise," Santana said and smirked.

"Well, I'm not hogging everything like you think," Brittany shrugged.

"Whatever you say," Santana said and turned to Puck. "Puckerman, you're running for Yule Ball King."

"Yes, ma'am," Puck replied and made a salute.

"What about the theme? I have an idea of dinosaur theme. Like, we're in the jungle surrounded by dinosaurs and trees," Brittany spoke up.

"I don't know, Britt. I think it would be hard to bring in so many trees in the hall," Mercedes said.

"What about space?" Scarlet came back and joined in the conversation. "Our ceiling can turn to sky with stars. We only need some decorations."

"Dinosaurs and space. If you put these two things together, it would remind me of…" Rachel said while playing with her own chin.

"Chris Pratt's movies," Santana finished the sentence for her.

"Yes!" Rachel said and grinned at Santana.

Brittany never expected to see this interaction between Rachel and Santana.

"Awkward half-muggle bonding," Quinn spoke Brittany's mind.

"Can we move on?" Santana quickly changed the topic. "So we have Celtics, Dinosaurs, Space and Dinosaurs _and_ Space. If no one wants to add anything, let's vote and get out of here."

Nobody objected.

"I gotta go with Chris Pratt. He's the hottest muggle in history. Sorry, Kurt," Mercedes said.

"It's okay. I was steady on my Celtics idea until Santana had to mention his name. I'm in," Kurt replied.

"You already know what I'm gonna choose. It was my idea after all," Rachel said brightly.

"Ugh, it was my idea and _Miss Tall Blonde_ 's idea put together," Scarlet said and waved her hand carelessly at Brittany.

Brittany found it adorable that the girl made up a nickname for her.

"I think I heard Chris Pratt's name from somewhere before. And I like the idea of dinosaurs roaming on other planets," Brittany added another vote to the Dinosaurs and Space theme.

"What about you, Puck?" Santana asked.

"Chris Pratt all the way, baby," Puck replied and pretended like he was riding a motorcycle.

"Five votes. Look like we don't have a choice, Q," Santana said and turned to her best friend.

"You're so full of shit, Santana. I know you wanna do Chris Pratt theme," Quinn said with high-pitched voice.

"Don't swear in front of Scarly," Santana said firmly.

"Don't change the topic. Just admit it and vote," Quinn retorted back.

"Fine. I'm in. We're doing the Dinosaurs and Space theme. Let's get out of here," Santana said and quickly got off the table.

Brittany's eyes automatically followed her to the door.

"Enjoying the view?" Quinn whispered in Brittany's ear to make sure that only Brittany heard it.

Before Brittany could reply anything, Quinn already walked towards the door. She turned around to give Brittany a huge grin and got out of the room.

 _Oh crap. She knows._


	9. In the Sewer

Brittany was worried if Quinn already told Santana about her attraction, but nothing seemed to change. Santana still talked to her only when she had to. And the girls still took turn to do the weekly tasks.

"Children, for this week's task, I want you to check in the sewer under the dungeons. We have complaints about loud noise resonating from there lately," Headmaster Figgins said at the end of one meeting. "Please take precaution. It could be just a gnome or something dangerous. If you suspect that it is a vicious creature, please get out of there and report to me."

The girls said goodnight to the Headmaster and left the room.

"Okay. I'm just gonna go now," Santana said and headed to the dungeon.

"There's no way I'm letting you go alone. Didn't you hear Headmaster Figgins? It could be something dangerous," Brittany jogged to catch up with Santana.

"You already did last week's task. And my dorm is on the way. It only makes sense that I do this," Santana stopped walking and spun around.

Brittany almost crashed into Santana, but it was not the time to concern about proximity.

"It doesn't make any sense. What if it's a Basilisk?" Brittany asked while her hand came up to touch Santana's elbow automatically.

"There's no such thing," Santana replied and flinched away from the touch.

"It could be a ghost like Peeves," Brittany insisted.

"What is a Peeves?"

"You don't read much about UK Hogwarts, do you?"

"Because it's not important to me."

"Come on. Let me come with you only this one time."

"No."

"Well, I'm not asking. I'm coming with you."

"I'm not asking either," Santana replied and ran into the stairway that led to the dungeons.

When Brittany followed her, Santana already disappeared. Brittany figured that there must be some secret passages around here. It took a while until she found a manhole that led directly to the sewer below.

The ladder that dropped from the manhole was broken, so Brittany decided to jump down instead. Her shoes were wet from the splashing water.

Brittany stepped inside the sewer carefully and looked for a sight of Santana. She suddenly heard a thud and a sound of a girl's groan.

"Santana, is that you?" Brittany asked loudly without thinking.

"Brittany, get out of here!" Santana replied from the end of the sewer.

 _She sounded so panicked._ Brittany thought and ran towards the sound.

When she reached the end of the tunnel, the sight in front traumatized her. Santana was casting a protection spell while a Dementor was slamming against her invisible shield.

"What are you doing!? I told you to get out of here! He's here for me!" Santana turned around when she heard Brittany's footsteps.

The Dementor took that moment to slam hardly against the protection spell and knocked Santana down to the ground. The creature moved closer and closer to Santana.

" _Expecto Patronum_ ," Santana chanted the spell for Patronus Charm, but only silver smoke came out from the tip of her wand.

Brittany froze in place until the Dementor started to suck out Santana's soul. She reached for her wand, while Santana hopelessly tried to cast the Patronus Charm again.

 _Where is my wand!?_ Brittany asked herself when she found her pocket empty.

Brittany quickly realized that the wand might have fallen when she jumped down here.

"Hold on, Santana!" Brittany shouted and ran back to below the manhole.

She found her wand lying in a puddle. Brittany grabbed it and ran back to Santana as fast as she could.

On the way back, she tripped on a wooden box she did not pay attention before. On the box, there was Professor Holliday's name written on it along with stamps. Everything started to click in Brittany's head.

" _Professor Holliday gushed about ordering a little something-something to scare the third year students."_

"Santana, it's not a Dementor!" Brittany yelled before she could get up, hoping for Santana to be conscious enough to hear her. "It's a Boggart! Use _Riddikulus_!"

Brittany continued to run forward only to find Santana curling up on the ground and groaning.

Brittany stepped in front of the fake Dementor by instinct. The creature swiftly changed into Courtney Pierce.

"Hi, cuz. Long time no see. I see that you still can't be compared to me. How is Potions? You will probably get _Acceptable_ as usual, only because Sue might feel like you're already too pathetic to get a _Troll_. I mean, even though someone like Sue was my teacher, I still got _Outstanding_ every year, you know?"

Courtney stepped closer and shoved Brittany on her shoulder lightly.

Brittany told herself that the _thing_ in front of her was not her cousin. She started to lift up her wand when Courtney changed into Kurt.

"I haven't forgiven you about the election. I will never forgive you!" Kurt yelled in her face and changed into Santana.

"Wow, you look so pretty,…," the fake Santana stepped closer and curl a golden lock of Brittany's hair with her finger. "…pretty dumb."

Brittany felt a hand tapping on her shin and turned around. The real Santana was sitting on the ground and looked up to her.

"That's not m-me," Santana said with the strength she had left. "I'm h-here."

Brittany turned to face the Boggart again when it already changed into her mother. She was taken by surprised when it hugged her.

"I love you, Brittany," her mother mumbled during the hug and pulled away. "I just didn't know you would turn out to be this stupid. Why can't you be more like Courtney? Anyway, the important thing is you should know that I will always love you no matter what. Even though you're such a disappointment and I wish I had another better child before I was too old."

Brittany pushed the creature away and casted the spell without hesitancy. " _Riddikulus._ "

The Boggart inflated while it was still in Whitney Pierce form. It bounced up and down against the ceiling and the ground like a big balloon. When it finally deflated to the previous size, the creature decided to tap-dance.

" _Petrificus Totalus_ ," Brittany gave it another spell and witnessed her mother paralyzed and fell on the ground.

Brittany sighed and turned to Santana. The other girl tried to get up on her own but she did not succeed.

"Let's get out of here," Brittany said and kneeled down to help Santana up.

She arranged Santana's left arm to be around her neck and grabbed Santana's right side of her waist to support her even though the other girl tried to protest.

"You can't walk on your own. Don't be so stubborn," Brittany mumbled.

"Whatever," Santana replied in her usual way. "So, that was your mom?"

"Yep, the one and only Mrs. Whitney Pierce. And no, that's definitely not my mom," Brittany said firmly and turned her head back to look at the paralyzed creature.

"I thought you were going to wait and let it change into everyone in school."

"Me too. Luckily, it changed into my mom first and it said something my mom would never say. That snapped me back to reality. Well, you helped, too, actually."

"Look, you saved my life twice now, and I, umm…" Santana started, but did not finish her sentence.

"Are you trying to say thank you?" Brittany turned to look at Santana while they were climbing the stairs in a secret passage Santana guided them to.

It felt intimate when they talked while they were side-hugging.

"Well, thank you," Santana said and quickly looked away.

"You're welcome," Brittany replied and looked at the flushed cheek in front of her. "But it would be great if we do the tasks together from now on."

"Maybe," Santana mumbled.

"Seriously? After everything that happened? You can't even cast the Patronus Charm," Brittany started to get slightly angry.

"I can't cast it since… Just forget it. It's no big deal. And don't tell anyone about that," Santana tried to sound calm, but she failed miserably.

"It's a very big deal, Santana. I can't imagine what would have happened if that was a real Dementor," Brittany pressed on.

"Then you should have left me alone," Santana replied quietly without turning to face Brittany.

" _He's here for me!"_ Brittany thought back to what Santana said in the sewer.

"You said he was here for you. What was that about?" Brittany asked softly.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Santana replied.

Brittany could hear the sadness in her voice. As much as she wanted to know what happened, she continued to help Santana get up the stairs.

When the girls reached the dungeons, Santana asked Brittany to stop in front of a wall.

"This is my dorm."

"Are you sure you don't wanna go to the Hospital Wing?" Brittany asked, still not let go of Santana.

"Nah. I only need a good long sleep," Santana withdrew her arm from around Brittany's neck and leaned against the wall. "Don't forget to report everything to Figgins."

"I'm heading to his office right now. You sure you're okay?" Brittany was still concerned.

"Yes, I'm sure. Now go," Santana replied and added. "You already know one of our secret passages. I don't want you to hear our dorm's password, too."

Brittany pretended to roll her eyes and headed to the stairway that led to the Entrance Hall above. She was going to step on the first tread of the stairs when she heard Santana calling her name.

"Brittany," Santana said and quickly corrected herself. "Pierce."

Brittany noticed that it was the second time Santana said her first name.

"Yeah?" she turned around to the sound.

Santana's face was hiding behind the shadow, but Brittany could see her lips moving.

"I don't think you're stupid… or dumb."

Brittany smiled and replied. "Thank you, Santana."

"Good night," Santana said and stepped inside the opened wall in front of her.

"Night," Brittany replied to the empty hallway and climbed up the stairs.


	10. Yule Ball

Professor Holliday was suspended for two weeks because she did not check that her _delayed_ shipment actually floated its way to the sewer by accident. Headmaster Figgins informed everyone that Professor Holliday would teach about theories more than practices from now on. Brittany thought it was not the Professor's fault at all, but she was glad that the Defence Against the Dark Arts class was still entertaining somehow after Professor Holliday came back.

The Yule Ball preparation was going well as planned. Brittany could not be happier that two Houses could work together in peace. She was also happy with the fact that Santana agreed to do the tasks of the week together since what happened in the sewer. She even called Brittany by her first name sometimes.

 _I think we're sort of friends now._ Brittany thought on her way back from the task one day.

Puck, Sam and a few other boys brought in boxes of plastic balls to the Great Hall. They were going to enlarge and color them into different planets.

"I have an idea. Since we do Dinosaurs and Space theme, why don't we use bludgers as shooting stars?" Pack spoke up.

"I can't tell if that was coming from you or the knarl on your head," Santana replied and shook her head.

She walked over to help Brittany floating the other side of a banner with _WELCOME, YULE-ASAURUSES_ written on it.

"Thanks," Brittany said and smiled.

"No problem. Just wanna finish it for today and have lunch," Santana replied and shrugged.

They attached the banner to the wall and walked to their respective House's tables. Part of Brittany wished that Santana and her housemates would have lunch together at the same tables, but she knew they were not there yet.

 _Or will we ever get there?_

Brittany walked to Rachel, who was sitting alone with a bowl of soup.

"Hey, how's it going?" Brittany greeted.

"I don't know. Finn seems distant lately," Rachel replied and stirred her soup absent-mindedly.

"What happened? Did you two fight?"

"No. That's the problem. I don't know what happened. Maybe he finally realized that I'm not pretty enough for him," Rachel's lips quivered.

"No, Rachel. You're pretty and I can tell he loves you. He's always excited when he talks about you," Brittany assured her and asked. "What made you think like that?"

"Well, whenever I told him we were gonna do _it_ on Yule Ball night, he either excused himself or scratched his head."

"You mean you're gonna have sex with him?"

"It's not just sex, Brittany. It's going to be our first time. We promised to lose our virginity together, to each other and with each other," Rachel said and clanked her spoon to the side of the bowl.

"Oh, okay. Maybe he's just nervous. It's going to be okay, Rachel."

"I don't know. We'll see," Rachel replied and changed the subject. "Oh. That reminded me. With everything that's happening, I forgot to ask Finn to run for Yule Ball King."

"It's okay. From what you told me, I guess he's not in the mood either."

"Who isn't in the mood for what?" Kurt walked over and sat next to Rachel.

"Finn, for Yule Ball King. Now our House doesn't have anyone running for it, which gives me an idea…" Brittany did not finish the sentence and grinned at Kurt.

"Oh no. No, no, no way. I'm not gonna risk being made fun of or being called 'Yule Ball Queen' if I won," Kurt spoke rapidly.

"Nobody cares that you're gay, Kurt," Rachel said and patted his back.

"Only if 'nobody' means 90 percents of school population." Kurt mumbled and turned to Brittany. "Why don't you ask Sam? The girls are all over him."

"And… some guys," Rachel added and smirked at Kurt.

"Oh, shut up. Enough about me," Kurt replied while his face was turning red. "Just ask Sam, Brittany."

"Okay. Sam, it is," Brittany said and left the table.

* * *

Two tables and one lamp were the unlucky objects that were broken in the process of spells demonstration in Defence Against the Dark Arts class today. Brittany and Mercedes left the class lastly to help Professor Holliday fix the broken objects.

When they were done, Mercedes excused herself due to she had a date with her boyfriend, Shane.

Brittany was walking alone in a crowded hallway when she was pulled in a janitor closet.

When Brittany turned around, she found Quinn locking the door.

"Um, Quinn?"

"What? Did you wish it was Santana?" Quinn asked and squinted her eyes.

"What do you want, Quinn?" Brittany decided to answer the question with a question.

"Tell me it's not true," Quinn suddenly sounded serious.

"Is what true?" Brittany asked, confused.

"You're going to Yule Ball with Sam! I thought you liked Santana!"

"Sam said he would run for Yule Ball King only if I go to Yule Ball as his date," Brittany explained and added. "It's no big deal. I already told him we're going as friends."

"Yeah, until he tries to kiss you when you slow-dance," Quinn said and rolled her eyes.

"Umm, you think too much, Quinn."

"I'm just looking out for you. It's also for Santana's own good. She's less moody since she started to hang out with you more often."

"Really?" Brittany said and beamed.

"I don't know. Maybe it has nothing to do with you," Quinn answered in the tone like she could not care less.

Brittany pouted at the answer.

"Look, the point is I'm rooting for you. Just don't screw up," Quinn said and grabbed Brittany's shoulders a little too hard.

"Has anyone ever told you you're kinda scary?" Brittany asked.

"No one has to tell me," said Quinn, still not let go of Brittany. "Promise me you won't start anything with Sam."

"I'm only interested in Santana and Santana alone," Brittany said firmly.

"Good. Merlin's mole, I'm so excited to see how this is gonna play out!" Quinn let go of Brittany and squealed.

"You're so weird," Brittany told Quinn. "I'm gonna go now… before people think we're making out."

Brittany led them both out of the janitor closet.

* * *

Pentagon students took charge of music at Yule Ball, while the White House students took charge of the games. Yule Ball started with the Pents taking turn of singing on the stage. After a while, everything became unpleasant until Santana let Rachel, Kurt and Mercedes sing some songs.

Brittany was in a bright yellow dress tonight. She had fun dancing with Sam and other White House students. She found that Mike was the only one who could keep up with her dance moves. They ended up having a dance-off while Mercedes was singing _Dog Days Are Over_ by the famous witch, _Florence Welch_. In the end, Tina, who was Mike's girlfriend, decided that there was no winner.

Brittany had a feeling that someone was watching her. She turned around to see Santana standing next to the punch bowl made into a shape of a dinosaur's egg. She was looking at Brittany.

 _Maybe she's just looking at everyone here._ Brittany thought.

Santana was in red one-shoulder dress with her hair down. Brittany thought she was stunning and could not help but stare at her exposed shoulder. She trailed her eyes back to Santana's face to find that Santana was still looking at her. However, Brittany could not tell from Santana's expression what she was thinking.

Brittany was thirsty and tired from dancing, so she decided to walk over to the punch bowl.

"Hey," Brittany greeted Santana.

"Hey," Santana replied as briefly as she could.

Brittany poured herself a cup of punch and drank it. She could feel Santana's eyes on her the whole time.

"Hmm, this is so refreshing," Brittany made a small talk.

"Maybe it's because you're tired from dancing like crazy," Santana said.

"That's the only way to dance," Brittany replied and wiggled an eyebrow.

She was reaching for the ladle to fill her cup again when Santana's voice interrupted her.

"Don't drink too much. I'm not sure if Puck and the quidditch guys spiked the punch or not."

"Is that why you're standing here? You're guarding the punch bowl?"

"Sort of," Santana replied.

"Come on. I don't think anyone wanna spike the punch and risk getting expelled or suspended."

"It happened before," Santana replied and put one hand on her hip.

"It's Yule Ball. You should have fun," Brittany said.

Santana seemed hesitant until Rachel showed up.

"Santana, it's your turn," Rachel spoke and turned to Brittany. "Hey, Britt."

"I guess this is my cue to leave the punch bowl," Santana told both White House girls and made her way to the stage.

Rachel had a cup of punch and left to dance with Finn.

The music started playing. Brittany recognized that it was a song by _Haim_ , a band that consisted of three witches who were sisters. Santana went to the microphone and started singing.

 _Go slow_

 _So that I can hear everything you're saying._

 _Now I know you're going._

 _You just threw this away._

 _You know I ain't gonna take it._

It was the first time Brittany heard Santana sing. Santana's voice was raspy and sultry, but most of all, it was soulful. Brittany felt like she was hypnotized. She found her feet moving forward to the stage to get a closer look of Santana until she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Here you are," Sam said. "I was looking for you."

"Sam. Sorry, I was just thirsty."

"No need to apologize," Sam replied and offered his hand. "May I have this dance?"

"Yeah, sure. Let's go," Brittany said and led Sam to the dance floor.

 _Well, well, was it something that I said?_

 _I know that it was something I said._

 _From your heat now._

 _Going crazy trying hard to forget._

 _You know I'm trying to hard forget._

 _From the heat now._

Sam made some small talks, but it was hard for Brittany to focus when Santana was singing. She told herself to pay attention to Sam whenever her eyes and mind decided to wander off to Santana.

 _Oh I just wanna go back hold on to the way that I was_

 _'Cause you took away all my young life._

 _And I hate who I've become from your heat now._

 _Is it me or she suddenly sounds so sad?_ Brittany thought while Sam was telling a joke about his pet dog.

 _Go back._

 _Go back._

 _From your heat now._

 _I just wanna go back. Go back. Go back._

Brittany could tell that the song was ending. She looked up at Sam and found that his face was moving closer to hers.

 _He's trying to kiss me just like Quinn said._ Brittany was lost in the thought that she forgot to avoid what was going to happen.

 _Go back._

 _Go back._

Sam's lips were soft against hers. Brittany froze in place and did not know what to do.

 _Go back._

 _Go..._

Santana's voice rang in Brittany's head, especially the last sentence of the lyrics she did not finish. Brittany gently pushed Sam away and turned to look at the stage. The musicians continued playing their instruments until the song ended. Santana already left the stage and Brittany could not see her anywhere.

"Brittany, I'm so, so sorry," Sam's voice brought her back.

"It's okay. I gotta go," Brittany quickly told him and walked away.

She was not sure what she was going to do. She only wanted to see where Santana went.

Brittany looked around the Great Hall and spot Santana standing with Puck and Finn. Santana was folding her arms and furrowed her eyebrows. Then, she snatched a cup from Finn's hand.

Brittany walked over to them and asked. "What's going on?"

"The color of the punch looks darker, don't you think?" Santana said and showed Brittany the cup in her hand.

The liquid in the cup was dark. It was definitely not punch.

"Yeah," Brittany muttered and turned to Finn. "Is this alcohol?"

Puck answered instead. "Um, yeah. Finnocent just needs some courage tonight, okay? I just wanna help."

"I can't believe it, Puckerman! What did I tell you!?" Santana said furiously and shoved Puck with her free hand.

"I didn't spike the punch bowl. It's only just this one cup, Santana," Puck pleaded.

Brittany grabbed Santana's wrist just in time before she could attack Puck again.

"We're sorry, okay? I haven't even drunk any of it," Finn said.

Before any of them could do anything, Sam showed up next to Brittany.

"Brittany, about what happened… I know you said it was okay, but…," Sam started.

"Ugh," Santana said and freed her wrist from Brittany's grasp.

The four students were lost for words when Santana lifted the cup to her lips and chugged the whole cup.

"Hello, children," Headmaster Figgins came out of nowhere. "I saw the commotion earlier. Is there any problem?"

"No, sir," Brittany quickly said.

"I saw Miss Lopez took that cup from Mister Hudson…," the Headmaster started.

"Santana thought it was alcohol, but she misunderstood, sir," Brittany said as calmly as she could.

"Yes. It was just grape juice. I checked, sir," Santana added.

Headmaster Figgins looked at them slowly one by one. Brittany's heart was beating hard in her chest. She wondered if he could hear it.

A sound of bird singing rang up. The Headmaster lifted up his wrist to check his watch.

"It's time to announce the Yule Ball King and Queen. Mister Puckerman, Mister Evans, please follow me to the stage," Headmaster Figgins told Puck and Sam.

Puck and Sam followed the Headmaster obediently.

"I'll go find Sugar," Brittany told Santana and Finn, and left the scene.

Quinn, Sugar, Sam and Puck were all on the stage. Two of Pentagon students brought out two golden crowns, which were placed on two red square pillows.

"Quiet, please, children," Headmaster Figgins started. "It is time to announce this year's Yule Ball royalties."

The four students on the stage looked nervous.

Headmaster Figgins brought out a piece of paper and read. "The Yule Ball King is… Mister Puckerman."

Puck jumped and punched his fist in the air. He ran over to pick up the King's crown and wore it on his head himself.

Sam looked disappointed, but he clapped for Puck anyway.

"And now, the Yule Ball Queen is… Miss Sugar Motta," the Headmaster read another name on the paper.

Sugar squealed out loud. Brittany cheered for her and clapped along with other White House students.

Quinn shook her head in disbelief and walked off the stage.

Sugar waited for the Headmaster to crown her the Yule Ball Queen. She, then, beamed and waved at everyone in the Great Hall elegantly.

Suddenly, Sugar stopped smiling. Brittany noticed that her crown was starting to melt. Finally, it turned completely into gold liquid right on top of Sugar's head.

Most of Pentagon students in the Great Hall laughed and pointed at Sugar. Brittany looked to her left and found that Santana was one of them.

Sugar groaned loudly and brought Brittany's attention back to her. Tina and Rachel were already by her side.

Brittany rushed towards them and asked. "Sugar, are you okay?"

"It's… h-hot," Sugar muttered.

Mercedes brought a cup of water and joined them. She laid Sugar down and rinsed her hair.

Brittany made sure Sugar was okay and walked straight towards Santana and her fellow Pents.

She grabbed Santana's hand without any words and guided her out of the Great Hall. Santana did not seem to resist.

When they were alone in the Entrance Hall, Brittany turned around.

"What the hell, Santana!?"

"It was just a joke, okay? It's a tradition that we play pranks on the Yule Ball King and Queen if our House doesn't win," Santana explained.

"And that includes burning Sugar's head!?" Brittany asked furiously.

"About that… I asked Azimio to turn the crown into liquid. I didn't know that he would make it hot, too," Santana replied and reluctantly added. "Sorry, all right?"

"It doesn't matter, Santana," Brittany replied quietly and looked at the ground.

"What do you mean?" Santana asked and stepped closer.

Brittany looked up with tears swelling up in her eyes. "It doesn't matter if the liquid was hot or not. You still have bad intentions. You still hate me and my friends."

"Brittany, I…" Santana had a hard time to speak.

Her hand came up and almost touch Brittany's face, but she decided to drop it back to her side.

"I thought we were friends," Brittany continued with her voice shaken. "I guess it was just one of your pranks, too."

"No. I…," Santana replied and suddenly turned away.

She paced back and forth, and palmed her forehead. Her other hand on her side shook slightly.

Brittany was confused by the motion in front of her, but she was still angry at Santana.

"If it's that hard to apologize, then save it, Santana. It doesn't matter anyway."

"Stop saying that!" Santana turned around and grabbed both sides of Brittany's upper arms.

She was taken aback when she saw tears rolling down Brittany's face.

"Don't… don't cry," Santana said softly.

"Like you care," Brittany replied and bit her bottom lip.

Santana looked into Brittany's eyes and held the gaze. It was the longest gaze they had ever shared.

It took a while until Santana started speaking. "I do care… so much. More than I should. I've known I feel something for you for a while. I didn't know what it was. Not until I saw Sam kissed you and…"

"Santana…"

"No, let me finish," Santana cut Brittany off gently. "I got so jealous. I screw up my song and I'd never done that. And… and I wish I was him. Not just for the kiss. I wish I was there dancing with you."

Brittany was shocked by the confession. Her mouth gaped. Her heart raced.

Santana continued.

"And gosh, I don't hate you. How can I hate _you_? You never gave up on me no matter how many times I tried to push you away. And those eyes... I always had to look away because I didn't know what I would do if I stared into them any longer."

Santana did not look away this time except when her eyes flicked down to Brittany's lips.

Brittany's heart was banging against her chest, anticipated for what was going to happen.

Before they could do anything, Santana suddenly lurched to her right. She rested her hand on top of Brittany's shoulders to balance herself up. Brittany grabbed both sides of Santana's waist to help her by instinct, which brought them closer in process.

Their faces were a few inches apart. Brittany could smell something from Santana's breath.

With their close proximity, it took everything for Brittany to form a thought.

She thought back to when Santana was drinking from the cup she took from Finn, when she was pacing back and forth, and when she lost balance on her feet.

 _Oh my God, is she drunk or even drugged? Maybe what she has just told me was not even real._

Brittany felt Santana's left hand slid up from her shoulder to caress the side of her neck. She tried her best not to look at Santana, so she would not give in to the temptation.

 _Maybe it was real. But still, Santana doesn't seem like herself._

As much as Brittany wanted to kiss the girl in front of her, she needed to know one thing.

"Santana, are you dr-…"

All the thoughts and all the resistance Brittany had vanished when Santana's lips pressed against hers.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Kay, now that they have kissed, I wanna ask you guys; if they ever make love (you know they will), should I keep it K+ or should I go ahead and change it to M? Please say M, thanks. ;)**_


	11. Confessions, Pt II

Santana's lips were soft just like how Brittany had imagined so many times. She felt Santana's hand moving up to caress her cheek and brushed her tears off in process. Brittany started to kiss back slowly. She could tell that it drove both of them crazy. Her hands were steady on Santana's waist in contrast of Santana's hand, which moved from her cheek, her jaw and her neck. It felt like forever until Brittany felt Santana's tongue against her bottom lip, asking for permission. She eagerly opened her mouth to grant the entrance.

When Santana's tongue touched hers, she felt a sharp bitter taste and quickly pulled away.

 _Merlin's beard, she's really under something._

"What's wrong?" Santana asked while her hands were still on Brittany's shoulders.

Before Brittany could answer, a shutter sound interrupted her.

Both girls turned to the sound from the balcony and found Dave Karofsky standing there with a cell phone in his hands.

"Damn it, I don't know how to turn the sound off," Dave muttered to himself and looked up at Santana. "Don't mind me, Captain. Just go on and kiss her some more. It was so hot."

Brittany turned to look at Santana, who already distanced herself from her and pulled out her wand.

" _Accio Dave's phone!_ " Santana chanted.

Dave's phone flew out of his hands and moved its way towards Santana. Before it could reach her, Santana gave it another spell.

" _Reducto!_ "

The phone broke into pieces in the air, and gravity brought the pieces to the ground.

"What the hell!? Just because you bought me that phone, it doesn't mean you can break it!" Dave cussed.

"If you ever tell anyone about this, the next thing I'll break is your face," Santana grunted at him.

"Santana," Brittany tapped Santana's arm to bring her attention back from Dave Karofsky.

Santana turned and followed Brittany's eyes to the other side of the room where ten or more students were looking at them. Some of them already started to whisper to each other.

Panic was written all over Santana's face. Brittany wanted to say something, but she knew she was the last person who would help Santana in this situation.

Dave Karofsky seemed to notice the fear on his Prefect's face as well.

"What's the big deal? You're probably under some Love Potion," he said and directed his voice to other students in the room. "I know my Captain would never kiss a Whitie with her free will. Clearly, Whities planned this to humiliate her."

Santana's expression changed from panicking to questioning. She turned to Brittany.

"Is it true?"

Brittany wanted to explain that she had no idea what happened, but her way of words betrayed her.

"I'm not sure. I…,"

"Look who's pulling the pranks now," Santana said with a hurtful look in her eyes.

Santana spun around on her feet and stormed towards the dungeons. She paused to glare at a few Whities who were laughing at her.

Brittany wanted to follow her, but she knew Santana would need some alone time right now.

 _I will explain it. I will set things right with her._

* * *

Brittany wanted to talk to her friends about what happened, but most of them were not at regular places on Yule Ball night. Rachel went with Finn for her special night, and Mercedes went with Shane. Kurt went to bed earlier than anyone.

When Brittany saw them again, they were in the Great Hall for dinner on the next day. Before Brittany walked to her table, she noticed that Quinn was sitting alone at one of Pentagon's tables.

"Hey Quinn," Brittany greeted.

"Don't talk to me. Half of the Pents hate you right now. Just walk away slowly, please," Quinn replied and furrowed her eyebrows.

Brittany ignored her. "Where is Santana?"

"I'll tell you if you tell me you didn't drug her," Quinn replied.

"Of course, not," Brittany said, annoyed that Quinn doubted her.

"She's at the Owlery. Don't tell her I told you." Quinn said and turned her attention completely back to her food.

Brittany turned to her White House friends and made a signal that she would be back later.

She ran to the Owlery and climbed up the stairs. She arrived just in time to see Santana closed the Owlery door.

 _No one else is here. Good._

"I'm gonna kick Quinn's ass," Santana muttered to herself when she turned around to see Brittany.

"Santana," Brittany said while gulping for air after running so far.

"Save it. I won't listen to whatever you have to say," Santana replied coldly.

Brittany was on a few treads on the stairs lower than Santana. If she did not know better, she would find Santana so intimidating right now.

"I don't know why you're mad at me when I didn't do anything."

"You weren't so sure when I asked you last night."

"Okay, I think you were drugged. You were acting strange since you were pacing around and stuff. But I didn't drug you or ask anyone to do it."

"Even if it's true, you still kissed me after that," Santana pointed out.

"Technically, you kissed me first," Brittany replied and looked up to meet Santana's eyes.

As usual, Santana quickly looked away. But this time her cheeks also turned red.

" _I always had to look away because I didn't know what I would do if I stared into them any longer."_ Brittany thought back to Santana's confession, which might or might not be real.

"If you're here because you don't want me to be mad at you because you're such a good sensitive girl who can't stand if anyone is mad at you, then fine, I'm stopping being mad at you right here, right now," Santana finally found a way to retort back even though her cheeks were still red. "Are you satisfied? Now, leave me alone."

"No," Brittany replied briefly.

"No?" Santana asked and narrowed her eyes.

Brittany stepped up on a tread to be closer to Santana, and she was glad that Santana did not step back. Only one tread separated them now.

"I'm not here to get you to stop being mad at me," Brittany started.

Santana diverted her eyes from the ground to look at Brittany again.

"I'm here to tell you that, whether you were under Love Potion or not… those things you told me about how you felt about me, I feel the same way," Brittany continued and stared deeply into Santana's eyes.

Santana's lips parted in surprise, but she did not say anything.

"I was drawn to you since the first time I saw you. I thought you were the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. But I've always known you're a lot more than that. No matter how many times my friends told me how horrible you were, or how many times you said bad things to me, or even when you did that to Sugar and I'm still slightly mad at you about that, I _know_ you're not that person. I know you didn't even want to do all those things."

Words came out of Brittany's mouth continuously like waves surging on the beach, while Santana's eyes never left hers.

"You care about your housemates and our school. You asked Puck to check on me, and you told me to leave you when you were facing the Boggart. You said I didn't give up on you. It's true, and for a while, I didn't know why. But now I know. It's not that I let all the bad things you did slide. It's because I know that's not even you. And I know the real you. I… like _you_."

Brittany's blue eyes melted into Santana's dark ones. Even in the dark with only torches surrounded them, Brittany could tell Santana believed every word she said. It took everything for her to not lean in and kiss Santana, especially when the light from the torches reflected on the features of her face in the most beautiful way. Brittany decided to let Santana take the next step.

She waited patiently.

There was a shift in Santana's expression, the one Brittany had seen so many times, the mask Santana was always wearing.

"Nice try, Brittany. But I'm not gonna fall for your prank again," Santana said and brushed pass Brittany down the stairs.

 _But why? She believed me._

Brittany gathered herself together and turned around.

"I don't get it. Why can't you just be yourself and do what you feel like doing?"

Santana stopped in her tracks. She replied without turning to face Brittany.

"The only thing I'm feeling right now is humiliation from your stupid prank at Yule Ball."

Brittany could tell Santana did not mean what she said without having to see her face this time. Weirdly, the harder Santana tried to push her away, the more Brittany believed that Santana's confession and the kiss in the Entrance Hall were real.

"If that's your excuse to push me away, then I'm gonna find out what happened last night," Brittany said determinedly.

Santana stood still for a few seconds and walked away.

* * *

Brittany walked back to the Great Hall to join her friends for dinner. Even though she still felt numb from Santana's rejection, she knew Santana did not mean it.

"Brittany, you're okay? You seem quiet," Mercedes said.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Brittany replied mindlessly.

"I know people are accusing you for drugging Santana, but it will pass," Rachel told Brittany.

"About that, I wanna talk to you guys tonight," Brittany told her friends.

"Yeah, sure. Now, we'll let you eat," Rachel replied.

"So how were you guys last night? Everything went okay?" Brittany asked with her mouth full.

"Well, you know, I have a crush on a straight guy. So I really had a good time cuddling with my boyfriend pillow last night," Kurt said and smiled bitterly.

"Last night was amazing! Finn was so gentle to me. He took…," Rachel started.

"Woah, hold up, I don't wanna know any of that," Mercedes put her hand up to stop Rachel.

"Did you have a good time with Shane, Mercie?" Brittany asked.

"Yes. And that's all I'm gonna say," Mercedes replied and grinned.

After Brittany finished her meal, the four friends walked back to their dormitory. They gathered on the couches in front of the fireplace in the common room. With all the things that were bothering her, Brittany could not sit still. She got up and started walking around in circle.

"Britt, what do you wanna talk about?" Mercedes asked with her eyes following Brittany.

"So, Santana was clearly drugged. But I don't know what kind of Love Potion she took."

"Who cares? She has been horrible to us for years. I say, let her have some taste of her own medicine, pun intended," Rachel said.

 _You don't know the real her._ Brittany wanted to tell Rachel, but she decided not to.

"She was humiliated and some Whities are making fun of her. And it's not fair," Brittany replied.

 _And I also want to know if what she told me was real._

"Why do you care about what's happening to her? What about you? You were the one who had to kiss those venomous lips," Kurt spoke up.

"I enjoyed it, actually. I mean, at first," Brittany replied without thinking.

"Oh," Kurt replied and got lost in his thoughts.

"It's totally understandable, Brittany. We all have a moment when we want to make out with someone from the rival House. It's kinda sexy," Rachel said and turned to Mercedes. "Remember that one time I kissed Jesse when we were in fourth year?"

"Nope," Mercedes replied and shook her head.

"It was more than that," Brittany blurted out.

All three of her friends turned to look at her in unison. Even though the other students in the common room still kept on doing what they were doing, Brittany felt like the whole room was quiet.

"Wait, are you saying you really have feelings for Santana," Rachel asked with a serious tone.

"Yes," Brittany admitted.

"Oh," Kurt repeated the same word again.

"Oh, wow," Mercedes said and got up from the seat to start pacing.

Brittany looked at each of her friends one by one. They did not seem upset. They mostly seemed surprised.

"Look," Rachel broke the silence. "I'm not your mom. I'm not gonna tell you what to do, or what not to do. But having feelings for someone like Santana is gonna hurt you badly, Brittany."

 _It's already hurting me._

"When did you know you were into her?" Mercedes asked curiously.

"I don't know. Since last month, I guess," Brittany replied.

"I should be upset about this, but I don't know why I'm not. Which leads to my question: what good do you see in her?" Kurt asked and grabbed his own chin.

 _They're judging her and they're judging me._

Brittany did not want to reply to any questions, not when she was feeling like she was a culprit being questioned by the Aurors.

Fortunately, Rachel saved her. "Guys, let's not pressure Brittany right now, okay?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind, I wanna talk about that some other time," Brittany said and continued. "Let's get back to the drug topic. I wanna ask if you guys see or know anything. Especially you, Rachel."

"I saw you hung out with Santana a lot last night. Why don't you tell us what happened step by step?" Mercedes suggested.

Before Brittany could say anything, Rachel chimed in. "Wait, why did you say 'especially' me?"

"I was gonna tell you that Santana drank from the cup Finn was holding. So that means whoever put Love Potion in that cup actually meant to drug Finn. And I don't think it was Puck, because he said he only gave him alcohol," Brittany explained and asked Rachel. "So, did you see anything?"

"Well, Finn is popular. It's not a surprise that girls and some guys would want to use the Potion on him," Kurt replied instead of Rachel.

"Exactly. But from what I heard, Santana wasn't exactly over the moon like people who are under Love Potion in the movies," Mercedes said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, she was kinda conscious," Brittany said and thought about what happened in the Entrance Hall.

"I heard there are many kinds of Love Potion now, both obvious and subtle ones. It's kinda freaking me out, actually," Kurt said.

Brittany suddenly noticed that Rachel disappeared from the conversation. She turned to see Rachel, who was wearing a look of shock on her face.

"Rachel, what's wrong?" Brittany asked concernedly.

Rachel got up from her seat and walked towards Brittany.

"I have to tell you something."

* * *

 **A/N: I feel like I was not in the mind to write today, but I wanted to write to keep it updated. So sorry if it kinda sucks. ^_^**

 **Anyway, happy Thanksgiving. I really appreciate your comments, whether good or bad. Cheers. :3**


	12. Prefect Stuff

"Oh… my… God…," Mercedes slowly exclaimed.

"Merlin's beard dipped in rum chocolate soufflé!" Kurt followed suit.

Brittany was also shocked from what Rachel had just told her, but she could not bring herself to say anything. There were too many things to process from all the information.

Rachel reached out to grab one of Brittany's shoulders. She looked sad, but she gave Brittany a smile.

"We should tell Santana immediately."

"What about Finn? You should talk to him, too," Brittany asked.

"I know. I just… don't want to think about him right now. I want to help you first," Rachel replied and sighed.

"Okay, let's talk to Santana at breakfast tomorrow."

"Yes, and Quinn, too."

"Sure. Thanks, Rachel," Brittany said and hugged her.

"I can't imagine how both of you feel right now, but this deserves a group hug," Kurt walked over to put his arms around both girls.

Mercedes quickly joined them.

They pulled away from each other once other housemates started to stare at them.

* * *

Brittany and Rachel got up earlier than usual. When they got in the Great Hall, they made a beeline to where Quinn was sitting.

"Um, hi. You two walked here like debt collectors," Quinn greeted. "What do I owe you?"

"Where is Santana?" Brittany did not waste any time to ask.

"Merlin's mole, Brittany. I'm not an owl," Quinn replied and rolled her eyes.

"Quinn, just tell her. This is important," Rachel said.

"Fine. You didn't hear? Your precious Latina made a visit to Headmaster Figgins' office last night and got herself a one-week suspension," Quinn said in drawling voice.

"What!?" Brittany and Rachel said at the same time.

"I mean, Azimio didn't even give her name. But she just had to decide to be noble and told Figgins what happened," Quinn continued like she was not interrupted.

"Sorry, Britt. I guess we have to wait," Rachel turned to speak to Brittany.

"Wait for what? What's going on?" Quinn asked while switching her sight between two girls in front of her.

Brittany and Rachel decided to sit down at that table at the same time.

"What the-," Quinn exclaimed.

They could feel Pentagon students turned to look at them in unison, but Brittany and Rachel did not care.

"About Yule Ball night. That so called 'Love Potion' story… We already know what happened," Rachel said and made air quotes at the words 'Love Potion'.

"Let me guess, you _think_ Puck did it. I didn't see what happened that night, but Santana thought he put Love Potion in _her cup_ even though he swore that he only poured some muggle whiskey in it." Quinn explained. "That's what I heard before she _Levicorpus-ed_ him and stormed out of our dorm."

"Wait. She was very focused on blaming me when she left the Owlery yesterday," Brittany said.

"Aw, maybe that's what she wanted you to think, sweetie," Quinn looked and smiled at Brittany like she was a tiny little girl.

 _I know she blamed me just to push me away._

"I know that," Brittany said defensively.

"Good. Now, can you guys tell me what happened already? Who drugged _her cup_? I'm gonna jinx that person so… hard," Quinn suddenly got serious.

"First of all, it wasn't even her cup!" Rachel said loudly.

"Wait. I'm confused. Can you give me more details?" Quinn asked.

"Well, Santana found out that Puck gave Finn alcohol, so she took the cup from Finn's hand. And then Sam showed up. And I don't know why when she saw him, she scoffed and drank the whole cup," Brittany explained everything in short version.

"Aw, it's probably because she was jealous that Sam kissed you, silly," Rachel nudged Brittany and said with the exact same voice Quinn used earlier.

"I… I guess," Brittany mumbled.

She could feel her face turn red. But when she looked at Quinn, the color on the other girl's face was changing in the opposite way.

"I guess that's how I looked like last night," Rachel said and inspected Quinn.

"If she drank from his cup, that means… Merlin, I… This is so… I can't…," Quinn had a problem to finish any sentence and finally blurted out. "This is all my fault!"

"Yep," Rachel said and pressed her lips together. "Looks like you have to jinx yourself."

"We have to tell Santana together when she comes back," Brittany told Quinn.

"I know," Quinn said and repeated herself again. "I know."

* * *

A week went by so slowly that Brittany felt like a month. She lied awake almost every night feeling nervous, thinking about every possible way Santana would react when they finally told her _everything_.

Going to Prefect meeting and doing the task alone on Friday night felt lonely, even though Santana did not talk to her much when they were doing the tasks together.

Quinn told them the plan that they would talk to Santana after _History of Magic_ class.

Brittany spent half of the class staring at Santana's back. She was nervous for what was going to happen when the class ended.

As soon as the last bit of the sand in the hourglass on Professor Schuester's desk dropped, Quinn rose from her seat and walked to him.

"Professor Schue, can we use the room after class?"

"What for, Quinn?" the Professor asked.

"It's for 'Prefect stuff', if you know what I mean," Quinn replied and turned to look at Santana, and then winked at Brittany.

Brittany could see Santana got up from her seat, so she quickly said to the teacher.

"Yes, sir. We need the room to discuss something."

Santana turned around to give her a questioning look.

"All right. Just lock the door when you're done," Professor Schuester said and left the room.

Other students left after him. Kurt gave Brittany and thumb up and left with Mercedes. Only Quinn, Santana, Brittany, Rachel and Puck were the only ones who were still in the classroom.

"Someone just tell me what's going on right now," Santana said and looked at everyone.

"Puck, you should leave," Quinn ignored her and told Puck.

"But why? I was an eyewitness that night, you know?" Puck protested.

"I don't know. You just seem irrelevant somehow. Just leave, please," Quinn said.

"Fine," Puck said and got up. He, then, turned to Santana. "You owe me ten churros for _Levicorpus-ing_ me for nothing."

When Puck left, Santana asked again. "What the hell is going on?"

"Santana, why don't you take a seat?" Rachel said and walked over to Santana.

Brittany followed Rachel to the front of the room.

"Um, no. I rather stand up because you three are really crowding me right now," Santana replied. "Now tell me what we are doing here."

"We know what happened on Yule Ball night," Brittany said softly.

"I'll tell you what happened. Since you and Puck swore you didn't do it, that leaves _Trouty Mouth_ and _Finnocence_. Now, tell me who did it, so I can kick his ass," Santana said without pausing.

"No. No. No. Santana, you got it all wrong. How does that make any sense? They didn't even know you would take his cup and drink every drop of it out of jealousy," Rachel pointed out with her hands flying everywhere.

Santana's cheeks turned to a shade of pink. Brittany could see Santana glancing her way with the side of her eyes, but it lasted only for a second.

"Which leads to what really happened," Quinn continued for Rachel. "Remember when my mom owled me that little package two weeks ago?"

"The one you wouldn't let me see because it was 'none of my business'?" Santana said and added. "How does it have anything to do with this?"

"Well, Finn and I planned to make love on Yule Ball night, but he acted so distance and I didn't know wh-," Rachel started.

Santana cut her off. "Hold up. Why are you guys keep telling me all these irrelevant things?"

"Maybe you should shut up and let her finish," Quinn said sharply.

Santana shook her head, but she let Rachel continue.

"So, I got so worried about the way he acted, so I talked to Brittany and Quinn. And then, Quinn offered to help. She said she knew a way to find out why he was acting that way because her mom used the same method on her dad when she-…"

"Wait. Hold up. Let me interrupt you again. Did you mean you and Finn were going to have sex the first time together?" Santana asked Rachel.

"Yes, we decided to lose our virginity that night," Rachel said and asked. "Why?"

"You should have talked to me, too, Berry. So I could tell you that I took his virginity since last year," Santana said casually.

"What!?" Rachel said in disbelief.

Brittany knew Santana had slept with many guys, but she did not expect Finn to be one of them. But at the moment, she was more concerned about Rachel's feeling.

"Yes, he practically begged for it because all of the guys he knew claimed they had done the do. And he couldn't stand being the clueless one," Santana continued like it was the most boring thing to tell.

"Why do I know this just now?" Quinn asked Santana.

She seemed to be surprised almost as much as Rachel.

"Because it wasn't that important or memorable enough to mention," Santana replied.

"Why are you like this, Santana? Why are you so cruel?" Rachel asked furiously.

"Oh, I'm cruel because I told you the truth when your boyfriend didn't?" Santana asked and frowned her eyebrows.

"Yes, the _truth_. I guess you have a whole lot of it because you just chugged a whole cup of _Truth Serum_!" Rachel spat the last word in Santana's face and stormed out.

Santana's jaws dropped. After a few seconds, she sat down on her seat slowly.

Brittany had never seen Santana being so shocked. She wanted to say something, but she also wanted to follow Rachel to make sure she was okay.

Quinn seemed to know what she was thinking when she said. "Stay here, Brittany. I'll go see Rachel."

"Quinn, wait." Santana called out. "Tell me it's not true."

"It's true, S. You know my mom used Truth Serum on my dad and found out he was cheating on her. That's why I asked her to send the rest of it to me and dropped some in that cup. And then I asked Puck to use that cup when he gave Finn muggle whiskey," Quinn explained everything briefly and made her way to the door.

"But maybe…," Santana started again, but Quinn turned around and cut her off.

"Look, if you don't want to believe me, it's fine. But right now, why don't you ask yourself if you really wanted to kiss Brittany that night? And do you still feel the same now? I know you did, and I know you do."

Quinn left the room without waiting for any reply.

 _It's not just the kiss. It also means everything she told me in the Entrance Hall was real._ Brittany thought and sat down next to Santana.

Santana's eyes dropped on the surface of the table, and Brittany did not know how to start saying anything at this moment. They sat in silence for a few minutes that felt like an hour, until Santana turned to face Brittany even though her gaze was still downward.

"It's true," Santana said softly. "Everything I did or said to you that night."

Brittany reached her hand out to caress Santana's cheek and guided her eyes to meet hers in process. "I know."

Santana's hand came up to stroke Brittany's for a few seconds and slowly pulled it away from her face.

"But we can't be together."

"Why not? We feel the same way about each other," Brittany asked with her voice shaken.

"It's not that simple, Brittany," Santana said with tears swelling up in her eyes.

"Because I'm a girl?"

"Yes. But most of all, it's because you're a Whitie," Santana got off her seat and looked anywhere but at Brittany.

"Santana, I'm sure you wouldn't be the first girl who dates other girl from the rival House," Brittany also got up from her seat.

"You don't understand," Santana said and raised her voice.

"Then make me. Help me understand," Brittany pleaded and stepped closer.

Her heart broke when Santana stepped back.

"I'm sorry. I can't," Santana said with her voice cracked and walked out of the room.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for the angst again. I had planned the whole fic till the end and there will be happy moments for sure. But it's just not now.**

 **Trust me. It hurts me as much as it hurts you. T_T**


	13. Under My Umbrella

**Santana's POV**

Santana and Quinn had breakfast early as usual. They liked it when they had their own table, so they could talk about anything they wanted. Today was one of the days they had _a lot_ to talk about.

"I can't believe you rejected her _again_ right after you admitted you had feelings for her," Quinn started as soon as they sat down.

"It's better this way," Santana replied as calmly as she could pretend to be.

"How is it better? You're only doing this to keep your stupid reputation while being miserable."

 _I have more reasons._ Santana thought.

"Since I stopped sleeping around, some guys already assumed I was a lesbian, okay?" Santana spoke without looking up from her bowl of soup.

"Assumed? Well, aren't they right?" Quinn asked when she already knew the answer.

"Yeah," Santana replied.

It was still strange to admit it out loud even to her best friend.

"But why do you care what they think? They're just some horny teenage boys who don't get what they want," Quinn pointed out.

"Even if I don't care, my _abuela_ will always care. She needs me to be the perfect granddaughter that she can be proud of, and talks about at old people gatherings. You already know she almost disowned my mom for marrying my muggle dad. And she only started talking to her again after my dad agreed to let her keep our last name."

"That's too much pressure."

"I know. You don't have to remind me."

"You gotta do what makes you happy sometimes, S."

 _I can't do that. I can't let myself be happy._

"Well, I really love my reputation. So this is not too bad, actually," Santana said and shrugged.

"I know you're lying. But whatever," Quinn shook her head.

 _She always knows, doesn't she?_

Santana decided not to reply anything.

Quinn was giving her a questioning look until her eyes diverted to the doors. Santana followed her eyes to the sight of Brittany walking in with her friends. She was in a white button-down shirt tucked in grey jeans. Her long blonde hair was in a loose ponytail.

 _Stunning as always._

What was missing was a smile on her face.

 _I guess that's my fault._

Santana quickly turned her head back when Brittany looked her way. She could see from the side of her eyes that Brittany was walking towards her.

"Hey Brittany. What's up?" Quinn greeted.

"Hi," Brittany replied without answering the question.

Santana sat stiff in her place. She could not tell herself to look at her after what happened yesterday.

The three of them were silent until Brittany started speaking.

"You forgot to take your stuff when you left the classroom yesterday, so."

Brittany placed a notebook and a quill on the table next to Santana.

 _Ah, shit. I totally forgot about these._

Santana gathered the courage to look at Brittany and said. "Thanks."

She was taken aback by how Brittany looked weary and sad up close. But before she could say anything, Brittany just nodded and walked away to White House's tables.

"Did you see her panda eyes? They kinda match yours. I bet she cried all night," Quinn mumbled.

"It's not funny, Quinn," Santana muttered between her teeth.

"Then fix it. Make them go away."

 _I can't._

"Enjoy your breakfast, Quinn," Santana said sarcastically and headed towards the door.

* * *

Friday finally arrived. It was the day Santana looked forward to the most this week. She did not have a chance to talk to Brittany the whole week except their small exchange at breakfast on Tuesday. And she barely heard Brittany's voice in classes, which was unusual.

Headmaster Figgins assigned them to cast protection spells around the Owlery because it was supposed to rain tonight and it might not be comfortable for the owls.

 _Just great. The Owlery, where she told me how she felt, which is the same place I was an ass to her._

Santana and Brittany walked side by side in silence until Santana had to say something.

"Hey."

Brittany turned to look at her.

"You're okay?" Santana found herself asking.

 _Why did I ask that? Of course, she's not okay._

Brittany did not respond for a few seconds, and then, she decided to nod.

They did not talk more on the rest of the way to the Owlery.

"You take the left-sided air vents. I'll do the right-sided ones," Santana suggested.

"Okay," Brittany mumbled.

Santana was taking her wand out when Brittany spoke again.

"Um, we should leave one of the lower vents open, you know, in case some owls arrive at night. I don't want them to crash into the spells and have to stay outside the whole night. And we should cast a spell on the roof, too."

 _Oh gosh, she's so cute and thoughtful, and... Ah, brain, stop it!_

"Yeah, totally. You can do that," Santana agreed and walked to the right side of the Owlery.

When she was done with her job and walked back to in front of the Owlery, Brittany was already there, waiting.

Brittany started to walk down the stairs when Santana called out.

"Brittany, wait."

Brittany turned around without any words.

"I want to talk you about… what happened," Santana stepped closer with her hands clasped together from nervousness.

"The protection spells?" Brittany asked and cocked her head to one side.

Santana could not tell if she was joking, but she did not think she was, given what happened between them.

"No, I want to talk about _us_."

"Okay," that was all Brittany said.

"I'm sorry that I hurt your feelings. I'm just not ready to… you know. I… I hope you understand that," Santana tried to explain her best.

 _And you or anyone shouldn't be with someone like me._

Brittany looked into her eyes for so long. Santana was not sure if she loved it or hated it, because she knew she gave away most of what was going on in her mind every time Brittany did this.

"Yeah, I think I understand," Brittany finally said.

"I was hoping we could still be friends," Santana blurted out. "I know I wasn't a good… _friend_ before. But I'll try to be a better friend. I promise."

 _I hope this is enough. I hope it's good enough for you, Brittany._

Brittany eyes turned to the ground. She bit her bottom lip and then nodded.

Santana noticed a drop of water on Brittany's cheek. She thought she was crying until she felt another drop of water on her head. It was starting to rain.

"Crap, it's raining now. Let's go," Santana said.

They were half-way down the stairs when the rain became a downpour, and Brittany stopped walking.

"What are you doing?" Santana asked while lifting up the hood of her jacket to cover her head.

"I think I have an umbrella somewhere," Brittany replied and searched in her pocket.

Santana took her wand out and cast a protection spell above them even though they were already soaked.

"Come on. The protection spell will do," Santana spoke loudly to make sure Brittany heard her through the rain.

"But I've never used my umbrella. I want to use it now," Brittany said.

"As you wish."

Brittany brought a tiny purple umbrella out of her pocket. The size of it was smaller than her palm. She quickly enlarged and opened it above hers and Santana's head.

"Come on," Brittany said and grabbed Santana's arm by instinct.

Santana jerked away because she was not prepared for the contact. She noticed the hurt on Brittany's face.

 _Better friend. Right._

Since Brittany was holding the umbrella with her right hand, Santana stepped next to her and grabbed her upper arm.

"Let's go."

She felt Brittany's muscles tensed under her touch.

 _I bet she works out._ Santana kicked away the thought and spoke.

"I like your umbrella. It kinda muffles the sound of the rain, too, right?"

"Yeah. It was a gift from Courtney," Brittany said and smiled.

"Ugh."

"You don't like her very much, do you?"

"Let's just say I cast Leg-Locker curse on her every time I saw her," Santana said and added. "It felt silly now."

"I wish I could see Courtney bunny-hop, though," Brittany chuckled.

"It was worth every detention I got," Santana laughed with her.

She could feel Brittany's eyes lingering on her again, but she decided not to turn her head to look.

They walked and talked about random things until they arrived in the Entrance Hall. The staircase that led to Pentagon dormitory was a few feet away. Brittany used her wand to reduce the size of the umbrella and put it back in her pocket, and said.

"So, I guess, good night then."

"Oh, I think I'll go take a shower since I'm kinda damp from the rain. You should, too. I mean, not together! I mean I heard you should take a shower after you've been in the rain so you won't get sick. You can totally use the Prefect Bathroom first if you want."

 _Shut up, Santana._ Santana thought, and wished she could kick herself.

Brittany smiled and replied. "It's okay. I'll take a regular shower in my dorm."

"All right, then."

They walked up the stairs together until Santana left to the Prefect Bathroom on the fifth floor.

* * *

 **Brittany's POV**

"Brittany," a voice came from somewhere far away. "Brittany."

"Santana," Brittany moaned.

"No, Brittany, wake up," the voice got louder.

Brittany slowly opened her eyes to the sight of Rachel in her pink pajamas.

"Oh, you," Brittany said with her post-sleep hoarse voice.

"You knocked your alarm clock down from the nightstand and it stopped ringing. And then you drifted off to sleep again, so I wasn't sure if I should wake you up."

"No, it's okay. I needed to get out of that nightmare anyway," Brittany said and shrugged.

"Hmm, by the sound of you saying her name earlier, I don't think it was a nightmare," Rachel pointed out.

"Oh, I call every good dream I have about Santana a nightmare because it would never happen in real life," Brittany explained sadly.

"Aw, Britt. You don't know that."

"I tried to stop thinking about her. But last night, she just had to talk about herself in shower. And I just can't stop imag-…"

"How was the Prefect meeting last night?" Rachel interrupted her by asking loudly.

"Headmaster Figgins said the second quidditch match would be on the day before winter break starts. That kinda sucks."

"You know when I asked about the meeting, I wanted to know more about you and Santana _after_ the meeting, right?" Rachel asked.

"Right. Well, Santana was sweet. She said she wanted to be friends."

"Ouch."

"I know it sounds bad, but it's better than if we were back to when we didn't talk to each other, right?"

"I guess. But it must be hard to be friends with someone you like and not be able to act on your feelings," Rachel said thoughtfully.

Brittany thought about what Rachel said and hugged her knees to her chest.

"I'll try my best," Brittany mumbled even though she was not sure if she could do it.

Rachel gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Rachel, thank you," Brittany said while resting her chin on her knees.

"What for?" Rachel asked curiously.

"I know you don't like her, especially after you found out what happened between her and Finn. But you still listen to me and don't judge me for liking her."

"You can't choose who you like, Brittany. And from what you told me, this Santana is kinda… likable. And you know what? She was right about the whole Finn's virginity thing. He was the one who lied to me," Rachel's voice broke at the last sentence.

"Did you talk to him?"

"No. Not yet. I'm afraid of what's going to happen. I still love him, you know?" Rachel said and burst into tears.

Brittany got up from her bed to hug Rachel.

Rachel hugged her back and continued. "I thought he took Truth Serum. And when I asked if he was nervous about losing his virginity, he said yes without even blinking, you know? He lied to me _twice_ , Brittany! I feel like our magical night was just a lie."

"I'm not taking his side, but maybe he had his reasons. But he was wrong for lying to you. That's why I think you should talk to him to sort things out, Rachel," Brittany said while stroking her friend's back.

"I know," Rachel replied and sobbed against Brittany's shoulder.

Brittany continued. "And if it doesn't go well, you know you have my shoulder to cry on."

"Only if you sit down because it's kinda hard for me to reach," Rachel chuckled through the tears.

Brittany was glad that Rachel was well enough to make a joke. She was going to make a joke back about how Rachel was dampening her shirt right now when Rachel said.

"Why is _love_ so hard for us, Brittany?"

The word 'love' repeated in Brittany's head over and over again.

 _Love. Do I love Santana?_

* * *

 **A/N: I just wrote "grey jeans" and can't stop thinking about Jean Grey.**

 **I know abuela, Ms. Alma Lopez is supposed to be Santana's dad's mother, but in this fic she's Maribel's mother. It just fits to my story better. So sorry if that bothers you, hehe.**

 **Anyway, I wanna write that Quinntana scene and hint about Santana's past, so you have a little of Santana's POV here. It was fun. I enjoyed it, but I probably stick with Britt's POV mostly, so it wouldn't be confusing.**

 **And dear guest who always supports me, thanks so much. I wish you had an account, so I could thank you personally. And of course, thank you everyone who reads this fic. Even if you don't review, it means a lot already. 3**


	14. Got It Bad So Bad

Quinn invited Brittany to join her, Santana, Scarlet and Puck at a muggle carnival this weekend. Matt Rutherford, Puck's muggle friend whose family owned the carnival, drove a car to pick them up at Hogwarts' gates, which in muggles' eyes was a middle of nowhere. Scarlet called shotgun, so the rest of them were forced to squeeze in the back seat.

After Santana got in the car first and moved to the end of the seat, Brittany waited for either Quinn or Puck to follow her. However, Quinn decided to shove her into the car. Before Brittany could protest, Quinn already sat next to her, and Puck followed suit.

The whole ride was quite uncomfortable. Even though Quinn spent most of the time on the car complaining that Puck's arms were too big and Puck complained back about how Quinn's elbow poked his side too often, Brittany barely paid attention to them because she was too busy keeping her arms and hands firmly on her lap. Every time the car turned, Santana's arm brushed against her and Brittany forgot how to breathe. In the end, she decided to move forward and held on to the back of the passenger's seat.

"Hey, Scarlet, how's it going?" Brittany asked the girl in the seat in front of her.

"Good. You?" Scarlet said.

"I'm good, too," Brittany replied and smiled.

Since she hung out with Santana more often, Scarlet seemed to be nicer to her as well.

Before Brittany could talk with Scarlet more, Matt told them that they had arrived at the carnival and stopped the car abruptly. Brittany's nose bumped into the back of the passenger seat, and like a spring, she bounced backward into Santana.

"Did I hurt you?" Brittany turned to Santana and asked.

"I'm okay. I'm more worried about your nose," Santana replied and looked closely at her nose.

"Nah, it's fine."

Brittany suddenly realized how close their faces were, and froze in place.

Fortunately, Matt saved her. "Sorry, I still don't get used to this car."

"You better get used to it when you drive us back," Santana snapped at Matt.

"No promises. Since you weirdos live in the woods, there's a high chance of a bumpy ride," Matt said and shrugged.

"We don't live in the woods. We're just… camping and doing a research. For school, you know?" Quinn chimed in.

"Which school do you guys go to anyway?" Matt asked.

"Can we get out of the car already? I want popcorn," Scarlet saved everyone from having to make up another story.

When they got out of the car, Scarlet quickly dragged Puck to the nearest popcorn cart.

Brittany looked around. It was her first time at any carnival. Everything seemed to be covered in orange light, except the big Ferris wheel, which was decorated with many colors of neon light tubes.

Matt excused himself to check on 'his employees'. And Quinn suddenly craved for some popcorn.

Brittany was sure Quinn left her with Santana on purpose just like when she shoved Brittany into the car earlier. Brittany decided that she needed to ask Quinn to stop doing these things because it was already hard enough for her to think of Santana as just a friend.

"I hope you don't like popcorn because we can do more productive things," Santana said.

"I tried it once. Not a fan," Brittany replied and continued. "So, what is the most fun thing to do at a muggle carnival?"

"None of it. But do you wanna throw darts for stuffed animals?"

"You had me at stuffed animals."

They walked to the balloon dart booth. Hundreds of balloons were stuck on a wall. Most of them were green balloons except the purple ones here and there.

"So, what do we do to get a stuffed animal?" Santana asked the carny boy.

"Five dollars for eight darts. And you have to hit the purple balloons at least five times," the boy explained.

Brittany realized that she did not have any muggle cash with her.

"Um, I…"

Santana seemed to know what was happening because she brought out a five-dollar bill and gave it to the carny.

"I'll pay you back…," Brittany said and whispered. "…in sickles."

"You don't have to. Don't worry about it."

There were ten purple balloons among the green ones, so Brittany thought it should not be too hard.

"Do you wanna go first?" Brittany asked.

"How about we take turn? But I'll go first," Santana offered.

"Cool," Brittany replied.

Brittany missed her first three times, but Santana seemed to hit the purple balloons every time. In the end, it depended on Brittany to score the last one.

"I think you should do it," Brittany told Santana.

"Nah, you do it. Just do like I did. Tilt the dart up a little and let it fall."

"Okay."

Brittany tilted the dart and threw it, but she missed the target anyway.

"Ugh, I suck," Brittany sighed.

"Fret not. I think this handsome boy will give us more darts since we were so close to win," Santana said and turned to the carny boy. "Right?"

"I… I think you have to buy another eight darts and start over," the boy mumbled.

"What?" Santana asked and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Santana, it's okay. Let's go to other booths," Brittany said.

Santana ignored her and spoke to the boy again. "How about I _personally_ give you another five bucks and I hit a purple one one more time and win?"

"I don't think I can do that. But… maybe…," the boy hesitated.

Matt decided to show up behind them at that moment.

"Name your prize, ladies. It's on me."

"Really?" Brittany asked and grinned.

"Yeah," Matt replied.

"No," Santana said. "It's on me."

She quickly grabbed the nearest dart and threw it into a purple balloon like it was the easiest thing to do.

"Here, take this," Santana shove a five-dollar bill in the carny's hand.

"Woah, all right," Matt mumbled.

"Which one do you want, Britt?" Santana turned to Brittany.

"I think you should pick it since you did all the work," Brittany suggested.

"Fine. Give me Olaf," Santana told the carny boy.

The boy brought them a weird-looking snowman with a carrot as his nose. When Santana held _Olaf_ in her arms, it was the most adorable thing Brittany had ever seen.

Brittany noticed that Matt was staring at Santana as well, and she did not like it.

"So, Matt, are you looking for Puck?" Brittany asked.

"Oh, I just wanna ask if you guys wanna go party at my house later," Matt replied while still looking at Santana.

"No, we don't. And you better drive us back to our… camp, or I'm gonna walk back there if I have to," Santana replied and turned to Brittany. "I mean, if you wanna party…"

"No, I don't," Brittany said abruptly. "Sorry, Matt."

"Let's go to Ferris wheel," Santana said and grabbed Brittany's hand.

Brittany should have got used to this, but it still made her heart beat faster every time. She loved how warm Santana's hand was.

Santana paid the fee for them again.

"Crap. I forgot to ask if you were scared of heights," Santana said before they could get in a cab.

"Not at all. I'm actually excited to get on it," Brittany grinned from ear to ear.

"Awesome," Santana smiled back and stepped inside the cab in front of her.

The world became quieter when Brittany got in and closed the door.

"Is this your first time?" Santana broke the silence.

"Yep. I can't wait to see our hotel from here."

When the wheel started moving higher and higher, Brittany's excitement became a little scare. She grabbed on the edge of her seat.

"You're okay?" Santana asked.

"I just didn't expect it to be this high."

"Here, take him," Santana said and threw Olaf at her.

Brittany was not fast enough to lift her hands up, so the stuffed doll hit her in the face and fell on the floor.

"Shit. Sorry," Santana said and picked Olaf up for her.

"It's okay," Brittany replied and held the doll tightly. "I feel a little better now."

Their cab arrived at the highest point when Santana said. "Why don't you show me where your house is to distract your mind?"

"Okay," Brittany said and looked outside the window on her right. "There! See the big 'P' there?"

"Well, that's a very big 'P'."

"Where is your house?"

"Around there," Santana said and pointed to somewhere very far away. "Lima Heights adjacent."

Brittany squinted her eyes to try to pinpoint where exactly Santana was pointing.

"Don't bother. You can never tell where my house is," Santana said. "There is no big 'L' or anything."

"But I can see your mom," Brittany muttered.

"What?"

"She's dancing."

Santana scooted over to the window and almost pressed her face against it when she was trying to look.

"Ha, made you look," Brittany laughed at her.

Santana grabbed Olaf from Brittany and threw it at her again. They ended up laughing together. But just like every time they laughed together, Brittany always stopped first just so she could look at the pleasant sight in front of her.

"Okay. I think we made the cab shake and it's all your fault," Santana said after catching her breath.

"No, it's because you threw Olaf too hard."

Santana smiled and shook her head. Her dimples came to display again.

Brittany caught herself staring at them, and Santana seemed to catch her as well.

They held gaze until Santana's phone rang.

"Quinn, what? Kay."

The light on Santana's phone disappeared when Santana put it back in her pocket.

"I may not know much about muggles, but I thought you were supposed to say 'Hello' when you picked up the phone," Brittany joked.

"Well, you can always say 'What?' if you feel like it," Santana replied and shrugged. "Quinn said they wanna go back now."

The cab reached the ground and the girls got out. Quinn, Puck, Scarlet and Matt were already waiting for them in front of the Ferris wheel.

"You two seem to have a good time," Quinn said and smirked.

"And you smell like cornfield," Santana scrunched her nose.

It was one of Brittany's favorite Santana's faces. She tried her best not to stare too long this time.

The ride back was less uncomfortable because Scarlet let Puck join her in the passenger seat as long as he promised not to tell anyone that she sat on his lap.

Santana sat in the middle in the backseat and talked to Brittany and Quinn occasionally. Brittany did not know when she fell asleep, but when they arrived at Hogwarts, Santana woke her up.

"Did I drool?" Brittany asked.

"A little," Santana said and smiled.

Everyone said thanks and good night to Matt and got out of the car. Before Santana could do so, Brittany heard Matt call out her name.

It did not take long until Santana got out of the car and closed the door a little too hard.

Brittany suddenly realized that Quinn, Puck and Scarlet already got inside the gate.

She turned to Santana and asked. "What did he want?"

"Ugh, my number," Santana said and rolled eyes.

"Well, he seems to really like you," Brittany tried to sound the most indifferent as she could.

"Of course. I'm gorgeous," Santana smirked.

 _You are._ Brittany decided to keep the thought to herself.

Santana continued. "But I don't like him. Let's go."

When they arrived in the Entrance Hall, Brittany held out Olaf to Santana.

"No, you keep him," Santana said firmly.

"But why? You hit all the targets and you paid for everything."

"I can't show up in my dorm with him, okay? I have to be badass," Santana explained and added. "And he looks better with you."

Brittany could feel her face turning red. She bit the inside of her cheeks and asked. "Is he from a movie?"

"Yes, he's from _Frozen_. You should watch it if you have time."

"I will."

They said good night and went to their respective dormitory.

* * *

Brittany cleaned up and changed into her pajamas. Nobody was in the bedroom because Rachel went to the library with Kurt. When Mercedes walked in the room, Brittany was lying on her back with her head hanging at the end of her bed. Olaf was sitting next to her.

"What the…," Mercedes exclaimed.

Brittany guessed that her position must have looked so strange to anyone right now.

"Hey Mercedes," Brittany greeted without getting up.

"What's happening to you? What is Olaf doing here?" Mercedes asked.

"I just got back from hanging out with Santana… and Quinn and Puck and his sister," Brittany said. "And Santana gave him to me."

"And?"

"And I just realized that I can't stop liking Santana that way."

"Well, it doesn't take as short as a week to get over someone, Brittany."

"No, you don't understand," Brittany said and flipped on her stomach. "I don't think I can do it no matter how long it takes."

"Poor girl," Mercedes walked over and sat next to Brittany. "You know that the only way to get over her is to distance yourself from her, right?"

Brittany hated to admit it, but said. "Yeah. But we're good friends now and I don't want to ruin that."

"Then at least, don't touch her too often and don't joke with her. And don't even think about hugging her."

Brittany took a long while to consider and nodded. "I guess I can do that."

Mercedes smiled at Brittany sadly and squeezed her shoulder.

"Hey Mercedes," Brittany said. "How did you know Olaf?"

"I watch a lot of muggle movies. And I have _Frozen_ on DVD."

"Is DVD a thing you put in computers and play movies? And do you have a computer?"

"Yes and yes," Mercedes said and asked curiously. "Why?"

"I wanna watch _Frozen_."

"Oh, girl, you've got it bad. _Baaad._ "

* * *

 **A/N: Random, do you want Quick to happen in this fic or not? ^_^**

 **Anyway, fun fact: I named Scarlet after Scarlett Byrne who played Pansy Parkinson. I shrieked when I found out she was on Vampire Diaries. Noralise, though. 3**

 **Also, anyone else ship Clexa? OMG the new The 100's trailer slayed me.**

 **Anyway, it's holidays season, so I'm not sure when I'll update again. It can be either more or less often than usual. So I wanna wish y'all MERRY X'MAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR here just in case. :-)**


	15. Sugar

Being distance from Santana was as difficult as being close. Brittany found herself making up unbelievable excuses to not hang out with her too often. Santana did not seem to have a doubt what was going on, but the look on her face every time Brittany said no to her was slowly killing Brittany.

"Hey, we're having a slumber party at Quinn's house this Sunday. Only two of us. You wanna come?" Santana asked after they were done with the task of the week.

"Sorry, Rachel wanted me to help with… something," Brittany lied.

"Bummer. Who's gonna help me shut Quinn up during movies now?" Santana pouted, and Brittany had to look away.

"Maybe next time. I promise," Brittany assured her.

"You said that the last time I asked you to go to Seekers club with me."

"That's because I had to study for Potions."

"Which I said I could help, but you told me you would study it with Kurt."

"Yeah. And I'm sorry about that. We just planned it before you offered to help."

"You don't have to apologize," Santana shook her head and smiled. "Let's call it a night."

Santana reached for Brittany's hand, which suddenly shot up to fake a cough.

"You don't wanna touch it. It's full of germs now," Brittany said sheepishly.

Santana grabbed her hand anyway, and this time it was with both of her hands. She brought Brittany's hand closer to inspect.

"Hmm, I don't see germs," Santana looked up and shrugged.

"Because they're not visible," Brittany said and slowly drew her hand away.

Santana gave her a questioning look, but finally said. "All right."

They were quiet on the way back. Brittany wondered if Santana was upset or mad at her or not, but Santana seemed okay when she said good night.

 _I can't take it anymore._ Brittany thought before drifting off to sleep that night.

* * *

"Turn to page 349, but use your nose instead of your hand," Professor Holliday said and demonstrated on her _Dark Art Matters_ book.

Usually, Brittany would join her, but today she was not in the mood.

Since she started to hang out with Santana less, Santana seemed to talk to her less as well. And they did not hold hands anymore.

 _Maybe she thinks I don't want to talk to her._

Brittany missed her laugh and the touch of her hand. She was lost in thought and missed the question Professor Holliday had asked.

"Brittany, care to give us the answer?" the Professor asked enthusiastically.

"Sorry, I… I didn't hear the question, ma'am," Brittany said.

"Which object, out of the three Deathly Hallows, Gellert Grindewald acquired? And from whom did he steal it from?"

"Umm," Brittany muttered and continued. "The Invisibility Cloak from James Potter?"

"No, honey," Professor Holliday said and turned to the rest of the class. "Anyone knows the answer? How about you, Quinn?"

"He stole the _Elder Wand_ from poor Gregorovitch," Quinn answered confidently.

"Good job. Brava! Ten points to Pentagon!" Professor Holliday spoke loudly and moved on to other topics.

Before Brittany knew it, the class already ended.

"Brittany, can you help carrying my book and the hourglass to my office?" the Professor asked.

"Sure," Brittany got up and did as her teacher asked.

Professor Holliday's office was at the far end of the classroom. It was the first time Brittany saw inside of the room. It was decorated with green tapestries and pictures of Professor Holliday when she was visiting numerous places in the world.

Brittany was looking at Professor Holliday skydiving in a picture when the real Professor Holliday walked in the room.

"Oh, I'll go now," Brittany said.

"Actually, can you stay for a while? I need a second opinion on the willow tea I bought for Sue's birthday. You know how Sue is," the Professor said and pointed at the chair in front of her desk.

"Yes, sure, Professor."

Professor Holliday poured clear green water out of her kettle. It smelled nice. Brittany added two spoons of sugar and stirred it.

Her teacher poured the tea in her own cup and sat across from Brittany.

"So, spill," Professor Holliday said.

"Y- You want me to spill the tea?" Brittany asked confusedly.

"No, sweetie. Tell me what's going on with you. You spaced out the whole class."

"Umm, I- I don't think I should…"

"I'm a good listener, you know? I would have been a therapist if I were a muggle," Professor Holliday said and laid back in her chair.

The gesture made Brittany relaxed somehow.

"So, there is this one girl that I… like… a lot," Brittany started.

"Umm-hmm," the Professor nodded.

"And she likes… or liked me back. But she said we couldn't be together. And now, we're trying to be friends, but it only makes me like her even more. So now, I'm trying to stay away from her."

Professor Holliday clasped her hands together and rested her chin on top of them. "Go on."

"And she kinda talks to me less. I'm afraid that she might think I don't wanna be friends with her anymore. I just… I want to be close to her, but I also don't want to be close to her."

"You _don't_ want to be close to her?" Professor Holliday narrowed her eyes.

Brittany took time to think and replied. "I _want_ to be close to her. I mean, it's what I want, but not what I _should_ do."

"Why not?"

"Because she only wants to be friends. And she seems fine holding my hand and stuff. And I hate myself for being mad sometimes to see how fine she is when I'm going crazy."

"You don't know that. Some people are good at hiding their feelings. Maybe this girl is _super_ giddy inside every time you touch her."

"Or maybe not. You have no proof," Brittany pointed out.

"Well, true. But it's obvious that distancing yourself from her doesn't work. Why don't you go back to being friends with her? And if she shows any sign, even a little, that she's still in love with you, you _hold on_ to that…," Professor Holliday made a fist when she said 'hold on' and continued. "…and confront her. Bam! Right in the feels!"

"That makes sense," Brittany mumbled.

 _Wait, did she say 'in love'?_

"Wait, Professor Holliday. I didn't say anything about… _love_."

"Right," the Professor just shrugged.

They were both quiet until Brittany sipped on her tea and asked.

"So, how can you tell if you love someone? Like, how long does it take?"

"Oh, sweetie, I can't answer that. I've never loved anyone. At least, not recently. And _how long_? Don't even let me start. Some guys told me they loved me since the first day we met!"

Brittany was not sure if she should take her words seriously. Fortunately, Professor Holliday made it clearer for her.

"Look, forget what I've just said about those guys. I think… it depends on each person to realize they love someone. You will just have that moment like a light bulb goes on in your head. And there is no standard of how long it takes. That's why some idiot came up with 'love at first sight' thing," the Professor paused and said. "Okay. You need to stop me whenever I'm starting to get bitter about love."

"I will," Brittany chuckled. "Thank you, Professor Holliday."

"No problem. How was the tea?"

"I liked it. But I think it depends on each person."

"Awesome," Professor Holliday said and clucked her tongue.

* * *

It was Thanksgiving week. Brittany felt very festive and happy. Things were going well between her and Santana again. And she was very excited for the task Headmaster Figgins had just assigned to them.

"Okay. Why do I feel like you want to jump up and down?" Santana asked.

"Because I can't wait to meet the elves!" Brittany replied and grinned.

"Wait, you've never been to Hogwarts kitchens before?"

"No. I wasn't allowed back in the UK, but I am now," Brittany started to bounce on her feet.

"Calm down. You're acting like you don't have an elf army at your hotel."

"You don't understand. I've also _always_ wanted to know how kitchens work here. And can you imagine elves making all kind of food? Like, how cute they must be, doing it."

"I don't have to imagine. I've been there before," Santana said.

"What? When? I thought this was the first time Headmaster Figgins let someone besides himself to check on the elves."

"Umm, I… I was there to steal some food," Santana said and quickly added. "Only twice, and very small portions. And it was a long time ago."

"I wasn't gonna judge you," Brittany crossed her arms and said.

"Good then," Santana gave her a sheepish grin.

They walked to a painting of a fruit basket in the corridor outside the Great Hall.

"Courtney told me that you have to tickle the pear to reveal the door to the kitchens in UK. Is it the same here?" Brittany asked.

"Something like that, but we tickle the orange here. Oh and…," Santana started to explain.

Brittany could not wait and reached her hand out to tickle the orange in the painting. The orange squirmed and screamed so loudly that the girls had to cover their ears.

"And it screams instead of giggling," Santana finished what she meant to say after the orange stopped screaming and turned into a door knob.

Santana opened the door for the both of them and said. "After you."

They walked down the stairs to a room as big as the Great Hall. Five rows of identical tables were placed in the middle of the room. The walls were full with all the cooking equipment Brittany could imagine. Twenty or so elves were working on their dishes. One of them was wearing a knitted hat and gave orders to the others. None of them seemed to notice that someone had just entered their kitchens.

Brittany was still in awe when Santana approached the elf with the hat.

"Hey, Headmaster sent us to check if you need anything for the Thanksgiving food."

"Santana Lopez!" the leader elf said loudly, which caused the other elves to turn to look at her.

"Um, hi. It's good that you know my name," Santana said awkwardly.

"Please don't steal our food today. We are already late to make pies," the leader elf said in high-pitched voice.

"What? I was here only two times! Don't tell me you know my name because I stole your food _twice_ in the span of five years!?"

" _Wonka_ is sorry. Wonka always remembers the names of people who steal our food. Wonka did not mean to upset Santana Lopez. Wonka is sorry!"

The elf started to slap his own face when Brittany rushed to stop him. She let go of him when he stopped resisting.

"Hi, Wonka. I'm Brittany," Brittany introduced herself.

"Brittany Pierce, the new Prefect of the White House. Wonka knows," Wonka took his hat off and bowed.

"How do you know my name?"

"Wonka knows and remembers everyone's names," the elf said casually and stole a glance at Santana.

It did not go unnoticed.

Santana stepped closer to the elf and said. "Okay. Listen to me, Willy Wonka. I'm not here to steal your food. Now, can you tell us if everything is going well here? I mean, besides the pies."

"Wonka can tell that everything is going well besides the pies," Wonka mumbled. "Jizzie, Arry and Fongy are sick, so Wonka let them rest. And now, no one has time to make pies."

"They're just pies. You can just whip things in two seconds and shove it in the oven," Santana said and waved her hands in the air.

"You can make pies?" Brittany asked Santana.

 _That is so cute._ Brittany thought.

"Yeah, I help my mom baking all the time. Why?" Santana said.

"Well, maybe we can…," Brittany started.

"No, Britt, don't even say it."

"Come on. It's Thanksgiving. Don't you wanna help these gentle-elves and lady-elves? They cook for us everyday, you know?"

The leader elf chimed in. "No, Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce don't have to do that! Wonka will find a way to make pies. Wonka did not mean to suggest Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce to waste their time to help. Wonka is sorry!"

He started to slap himself again. This time, Santana stopped him. She turned around to Brittany and said.

"You know what? I actually want to help them now."

Brittany beamed.

"Give me a bowl and all the ingredients," Santana told Wonka. "And if you hurt yourself again, I will tight your hands and gag you. And then, you won't be able to give orders to your elf friends."

Wonka just nodded and rushed to get a bowl and the ingredients.

Santana settled everything on a vacant table.

"How can I help?" Brittany walked over to stand next to Santana.

"It's fine. You can just watch. I can do this in my sleep," Santana replied and wiggled one eyebrow.

"So badass," Brittany teased.

"Shut up," Santana said and looked at the pack of sugar in her hand. "Granulated sugar? Seriously?"

"What's wrong?" Brittany asked.

"It would taste so much better with brown sugar. But luckily, I help my mom bake so often that I had my wand upgraded that it can shoot out brown sugar," Santana said proudly and took out her wand.

"Wait, seriously?" Brittany asked curiously.

"Umm-hmm," Santana hummed her answer.

"You're joking."

"I'm not," Santana said and turned to Brittany. "Stick out your tongue."

"Why?"

"So you can believe me. It _really_ can shoot brown sugar."

"Is this some kind of revenge, because I made a fool of you on the Ferris wheel?"

"Oh, please. I already forgot about that. Now, stick out your tongue."

"Ah-kay," Brittany said after sticking out her tongue.

"Close your eyes, too. It's for your safety."

Brittany did so. She could feel Santana's presence getting closer to her. And then, she felt a sweet taste hitting on her tongue.

Santana's wand really could shoot out brown sugar. Brittany drew her tongue back in her mouth just so she could taste the sweetness again. Her eyes were still closed.

She heard Santana giggle and decided to open her eyes the same time a storm of sugar hit her face.

"Oh shit! I'm sorry. I didn't know you would open your eyes," Santana exclaimed. "You're okay?"

Brittany did not reply because she was too busy bowing her head down and trying to get the sugar out of her eyes. She suddenly felt Santana's warm hands on her face. Brittany stopped moving around completely and let Santana lift her face up.

She could feel Santana's left hand running through a lock of her hair over her forehead, while her right hand was still on Brittany's face. Then, both of Santana's thumbs gently rubbed across her eyelids.

Brittany realized that Santana was wiping off the sugar from her face. She fought the sore and opened her eyes slowly. It was at the same time Santana ran her thumb across her upper lip, and then, her lower lip.

Santana's eyes set on Brittany's lips for so long. It was not until Brittany let out the breath she was holding that Santana realized what she was doing.

Santana was starting to draw her hands away when Brittany grabbed her face and kissed her.

Santana moaned as soon as their lips met. Brittany felt Santana's hands on her waist pulling her closer. Brittany did the same and snaked her arms around Santana's waist when Santana's hand grabbed the back of her neck.

It did not take long before Brittany tilted her head slightly and pushed her tongue through between Santana's lips. Santana's tongue pushed back and it was Brittany's turn to moan.

There were no tears, no drug and no people around this time. Brittany waited for the moment that Santana would push her away or tell her to stop, but it never came. Santana kissed her back kisses after kisses.

When oxygen became an issue, Santana sucked on Brittany's bottom lip and ended the kiss.

They rested their forehead against one another's while catching their breath.

Brittany exhaled and said. "I guess we need to talk."

* * *

 **A/N: I have four days gap between my travel plans, so here I am. :)**

 **I meant to write this chapter yesterday, but I spent my day watching Til Lease Do Us Part season 2, lol. Elliot FTW. 3 You should check it out on YouTube.**


	16. The Girl with the Pie

**Santana's POV**

When Brittany's lips crashed into hers, Santana was not surprised at all. Even though Brittany was the one who made the move, Santana knew wholeheartedly that she initiated it. It was not her fault that Brittany's lips felt so nice against her thumb. And it was not her fault that it made her think of the first time they kissed and how it would feel to kiss her again.

 _Crap. We're supposed to be friends._ Santana thought despite the way her hands moving to pull Brittany closer.

When Brittany wrapped her arms around her, Santana knew she never wanted it to stop.

Santana had kissed many people in her life, but with Brittany, it was different. Brittany's embrace made her feel safe. And the firmness of her kisses made Santana feel so wanted.

When Brittany said they needed to talk, a part of Santana wanted to just lean in and kiss her again, but she knew that they indeed needed to talk.

"Okay," Santana said and stepped back to give them some space.

"I'm sorry I kissed you," Brittany blurted out with nervousness written all over her face.

"I think you could tell that I didn't mind," Santana said and smiled in hoping to lighten up the situation.

Brittany let out a sigh of relief and said. "I just… I tried so hard to stop liking you that way, but I can't, especially when we always touch and you always make me smile."

"I know exactly how you feel."

"You do?"

"Of course. I've never stopped liking you."

Brittany grabbed Santana's face and kissed her again. This time it was gentle and unexpected. Before Santana could respond, Brittany already pulled away.

"Sorry. Couldn't help it," Brittany suddenly got nervous again.

"Britt, stop saying sorry. I just said I didn't mind," Santana said and grabbed one of Brittany's hands.

Brittany's eyes dropped down to their connected hands and stared at them for a very long time.

"So, what now?" Brittany finally asked.

 _What now?_

Santana pursed her lips and got lost in thought.

 _I want to be with her so much, but I'm me and she deserves so much better._

She looked into the pair of bright blue eyes in front of her. Those eyes were patiently waiting, worrying. Santana knew at that moment that it was up to her.

 _I can't push her away again. I can't hurt her. I won't._

Her free hand found Brittany's other hand without having to break their eye contact.

"Let's do this. Let's be together."

Santana knew as soon as those words came out of her mouth that her whole world was going to change.

When Brittany pulled her into a hug, she made sure to hug her back as tightly. Santana felt like she could fly, but then she realized that Brittany was literally lifting her up.

Santana giggled when Brittany spun her around. She was amazed with the fact that only Brittany could make her laugh like this, until her knee or some part of her body knocked over the bowl on the table.

"Merlin's beard, I totally forgot about the pies," Brittany said after putting Santana down gently.

"Same," Santana muttered.

They turned around to find out that the elves could not care less about everything that had just happened between them. However, Wonka was rushing to clean up the mess they had made.

"Wonka, can you, umm…, can you bring us all the pie dishes, more ingredients and a few bowls?" Santana asked the leader elf.

"Definitely, Santana Lopez. Wonka is happy to help," Wonka said and ran to get everything Santana asked for.

When all the pie dishes were placed on the table, Santana mixed the ingredients in a bowl and stirred. She could feel Brittany's eyes on her the whole time, but this time Brittany was not so subtle.

"Stop staring at me," Santana pretended to scowl at her.

"I have nothing better to do," Brittany replied and shrugged.

Santana knew that if Brittany stared at her any longer, they would spend the whole night kissing and the task would never be completed.

"Why don't you make pie crust? I'll tell you how to make it." Santana suggested.

"Okay."

"Actually, it's kinda difficult, so you should mix the filling instead. And I'll make the crust."

"Okay," said Brittany, still not moving.

"Brittany, stop staring at me."

"Okay," Brittany snapped out of her gaze and asked. "What do I do?"

"I'll write the recipe down. Do you have a piece of paper and a quill in that fully-equipped pocket of yours?"

Brittany hummed and searched in her pocket. She brought out some coins, her tiny purple umbrella and a comb. She finally found her quill along with two beans of _Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans_ , which she quickly put in her mouth. It was Santana's turn to stare at her adoringly.

"Okay. Here," Brittany said after she found a piece of paper.

Santana quickly wrote the recipe down and handed it back. They worked together peacefully. Brittany did not seem to have any problem mixing the ingredients, and Santana turned to shoot brown sugar in her bowl occasionally. They handed each completed dish to Wonka so he could put them in the oven.

When the first pie dish was ready, Wonka cut out a piece for them to taste. Santana took it of her own accord to feed Brittany.

"Hmm, yum," Brittany spoke with her mouth full.

"I so knew you would be good at this," Santana complimented her.

"Nah, it's because of your recipe," Brittany replied humbly. "Everyone is gonna love it, Santana."

"Well, just don't tell anyone I have anything to do with this. I don't wanna be called _Betty Crocker_."

"Who is that?"

"She's a muggle who's famous for cooking and baking, but she actually doesn't exist. Some company made her up to get more people to buy their products or something like that."

"Oh. Muggles are so weird sometimes," Brittany said and reached for Santana's hand. "But don't worry. Your secret is safe with me."

 _Secret. Right._

"Britt, we have to talk about, umm…, us," Santana started.

"Okay."

"I'm not ready… to tell anyone about us."

There was sadness on Brittany's face, but it lasted for only a few seconds.

"I understand that," Brittany mumbled.

"I mean, we can tell our close friends, yes, but not everyone. I don't like the thought of people whispering behind my back."

"Listen," Brittany said after swallowing her pie. "As much as I would be so proud to show you off to the world, and as much as I'm sure you would kick anyone's ass if they were to ever make fun of you…, if you're not ready, then, it can wait."

Brittany was so understanding that it made Santana want to cry.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Santana had to asked.

"Yes, I'm sure," Brittany said firmly and put an arm around Santana.

"I wish we could stay like this forever," Santana mumbled.

"Me too."

Neither of them wanted to move until Wonka walked over and set two glasses of cherry juice in front of them. "Wonka and his friends wanted to thank you Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce for helping them today. Wonka hopes Santana Lopez and Brittany Pierce will like this cherry juice we made."

Brittany reached for a glass when Santana checked the time on her phone.

"Oh crap. It's almost 10 PM now."

"What?" Brittany jumped up from her seat.

"Like I said, I don't want to leave here," Santana said while drinking her cherry juice.

"But we have to. It almost passes curfew now."

"I know," Santana said and let Brittany lead her to the door by the hand.

When they reached the door, Brittany turned towards her.

"Okay. I'm gonna open the door now. We're gonna leave this room."

"Yes, obviously," Santana was amused by the way Brittany announced it.

"Here we go," Brittany reached for the door knob.

"Wait," Santana grabbed her arm. "Can I get a goodnight kiss?"

"I was hoping you would say that," Brittany barely finished the sentence when she leaned in to kiss the girl in front of her.

Santana felt like she would never get enough of Brittany's kisses. She wrapped her arms around Brittany's neck to pull her closer, which resulted in Brittany giggling against her lips. The giggle was soon fading away when Santana deepened the kiss.

"Wow," Brittany breathed out after their kiss ended. "I really like this cherry juice."

"Wanky," Santana chuckled.

They said goodbye to the elves and stepped outside.

It was five minutes until their curfew. No students were around to be seen.

"Goodnight," Santana said to Brittany.

"Night," Brittany surprised her with a cheek kiss and ran up the stairs.

Santana stood there dumbfounded while feeling her own face turning red.

 _I think I can get used to this._

* * *

 **Brittany's POV**

 _Oh God, why do we have so many stairs?_ Brittany asked herself while running up to her dormitory on the seventh floor.

Her heart was racing, but she was not sure if it was because she was running or because of Santana.

 _Why is our dorm on the highest floor?_

"Why, hello," the portrait of Lillian Adler, who guarded the White House dormitory greeted as soon as she saw Brittany.

"Mother of dragons," Brittany quickly told her the password.

The lady in the portrait was not happy that Brittany did not greet back, but she swung herself backward anyway.

Nobody was in the common room, so Brittany, along with the rest of the first dish of pie, climbed up the stairs to her bedroom.

Rachel was already sleeping while Mercedes was reading a muggle novel.

"Brittany, where have you been?" Mercedes asked.

Brittany took time to catch her breath and replied. "Well, making pie. You want some?"

"Sure."

"I'm sure you'll like it."

"It's delish!" Mercedes said after she took the first bite. "You've got mad skills, Brittany."

"Well, actually, it's Santana's recipe. I just helped a little," Brittany said proudly and added. "But like, don't tell anyone she made it."

"Who would have thought Santana could bake?"

Brittany gave her friend a big grin.

"Why are you smiling after I said her name?" Mercedes cocked her eyebrow.

"Am I?"

"You so are," Mercedes stepped closer and said. "Santana."

Brittany smiled and bit her lip to stop herself from giggling.

"Something happened between you two, didn't it?"

"We're together now," Brittany almost bounced after hearing her own words.

"Brittany, that's amazing!" Mercedes said and hugged her.

They must have been loud because Rachel was starting to stir in her sleep.

"Is Rachel okay?" Brittany whispered the question to Mercedes. "She kinda went to bed earlier than usual."

"It's about Finn… again. She's waiting for him to tell her the truth, but no hope. So now they're not talking."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"I wish I could just go confront him, you know? But it's best if we let them figure it out themselves."

"I know. We'll just have to be there for her."

"Yes. Like letting her wake up tomorrow to this delicious pie next to her."

"Exactly."

"Or we should finish it now."

"No way. We'll let Rachel have the rest," Brittany said determinedly.

"Sorry," Mercedes rolled her eyes. "It's not my fault that your girlfriend is so good at this."

 _Girlfriend._ Brittany smiled and let the word sink in. _I think I can get used to this._

* * *

 **A/N: I'm so sorry for sort of disappearing for like 20 days. :( I was traveling so hard, and when I was back, work hit me as hard.**

 **And then I decided to do spell check + grammar check every chapter of this fic. I fixed the grammar and changed/added some words to make things sound better, so feel free to read everything again. :) And if you find any spelling or grammar mistakes, please tell me. Thanks a lot. Love y'all. :3**

 **Also, it's Naya's birthday. So yayyy.**

 **And SPOILERS, a lot of fluff is coming, obviously. :P**


	17. 60 Minutes in Heaven

Professor Sylvester was still the same woman she was last week and the weeks before. Brittany and her housemates had a hard time getting any House points from answering her questions. It also did not help that the end-of-semester tests were coming soon and the results would have a huge impact on their grade in the future. Lucky for Brittany, Santana had offered to tutor her in Potions or any class she had problems with.

Since Professor Sylvester always assigned Santana to take care of the Potions classroom after class every week, they agreed to hang out at the same time. Brittany put her textbook, notebook and quill in her bag slowly while waiting for the Professor and other classmates to leave the room.

Mercedes gave Brittany a knowing smile and left with Kurt and Rachel, while Quinn was more verbal.

"Don't 'tutor' on Sue's desk if you don't wanna get in troubles," Quinn said and made air quotes at the word 'tutor'.

Santana turned to give Quinn a glare, but her best friend already turned around and walked to the door.

"I swear Berry never helps me with this," Santana mumbled while using her knee to push the bench Rachel was sitting on towards the table in front of it. "She just gets up and leaves, and never looks back."

Brittany made sure that other students were long gone and walked to give her girlfriend a hug. "I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too," Santana returned the hug. "We haven't seen each other for like… two whole days."

Brittany pulled away from the hug to the sight of Santana blushing. She loved how Santana got flustered and shy by the littlest things she did or said to her since they started dating.

"How is your grandmother?" Brittany asked, knowing that Santana and her parents had just visited her grandmother on the weekend.

"Snarky as usual. At least she made us killer rice and beans," Santana shrugged and grabbed Brittany's hand. "I don't wanna talk about her. Come on."

Santana led Brittany to the cupboards at the back of the classroom. They were full of potions and potion elements. She quickly got into tutor mode.

Santana pointed at a jar filled with round slimy objects and asked. "What are these?"

"Newt eyes?"

"They're Eyes of Newt, Britt."

"Aren't they the same thing?"

"Well, I don't think Sue would agree," Santana said and moved on to another jar in the bottom. "What is this?"

"Flobberworm mucus."

"Right. How about… this one?"

"That's billywicked sting."

"No, it's billywig sting slime. It's slime from the sting, not the sting itself, remember?"

"Okay, noted. Why are you pointing at only slimey icky things?"

"Because I want you to know that you shouldn't mix any slimey thing with any solid rock thingy, especially the yellow ones. Just like…"

"How you shouldn't put any black or brown powder thingy with green liquid elements. You told me that last week," Brittany continued for her.

"Yep, unless you wanna give a smoke treatment on your pretty face."

It was not the first time Santana complimented her, but Brittany still got butterflies in her stomach just like the last time.

"You're so romantic, Professor Lopez," Brittany said and stepped closer to her girlfriend.

"Are you calling me sappy?" Santana wiggled one eyebrow.

"Maybe, but it means you're so cute."

"Oh, no, not the C word," Santana rolled her eyes, but her sight soon flicked down to Brittany's lips.

They had not seen each other for two days, and Brittany knew how much Santana wanted to kiss her right now because she felt the same. At the same time, she realized that they were in a classroom and other students could walk in any time.

"I wish I could kiss you right now," Brittany said honestly.

"Me too," Santana mumbled and looked around to see if there was any sign of people coming. "Maybe a quick kiss, and we get back to our lesson."

They slowly leaned into each other. Their lips almost touched before they had to jump apart because of Professor Sylvester's voice.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

Brittany was not sure how much the Professor had seen. She turned around to see the shock look on Santana's face, the same one she had when Dave Karofsky saw them kissing on Yule Ball night.

"Professor, it's not what it looks like," Brittany stepped in front of Santana protectively.

"Oh, save it, new girl. I know what it looks like, and I'm glad I came back to get my mandrake shake and witnessed it," Professor Sylvester walked over to take a closer look at Santana. Her voice was surprisingly comforting when she continued. "But don't worry. I'm not gonna go around and tell everyone, and ruin one of my top students' life."

Brittany let out a sign of relief and Santana did the same.

"Thank you, Professor," Santana said with her voice shaking.

"I don't care whom you get your mack on with, Santana," Professor Sylvester's tone suddenly changed back to scary mode. "But I don't appreciate when students have sex in my classroom. Now get the hell out of here."

Brittany swore hers and Santana's heads had turned into two beetroots when they heard the word 'sex'. She followed Santana out of the room while Professor Sylvester walked to her table and drank mandrake shake from her bottle.

It went without saying that they were taking it slow. Brittany had dated a few people before back in the UK, but Santana was different. She made her feel the way she had never felt before, and Brittany wanted to treat her differently from anyone she had ever been with.

"I thought…," Santana started after being quiet for a while, but she could not finish the sentence.

"I know. I guess we need to be more careful," Brittany said after she was sure no one else was in the hallway in front of the Potions classroom.

"Now we didn't get to finish our lesson."

"Forget about the lesson. You're sure you're okay about what happened? I know you…," Brittany asked and stopped abruptly after hearing other students talking from far away.

She led Santana to the nearest janitor closet.

"Come on. We need to talk privately," Brittany said after opened the door and stepped in.

Santana seemed hesitate, but she finally stepped in and closed the door.

"I saw how scared you were when Professor Sylvester found out about us. You're okay?" Brittany did not waste her time to ask.

"Britt, I'm okay. I was so afraid when I saw her, but I trust Sue. She won't tell anyone," Santana assured her.

"Really? Sue Sylvester?"

"She might seem like an evil bitch from hell, but she's actually nice, very, very deep down."

Brittany still did not trust the Professor, but she trusted Santana more. "Okay, then. I guess I don't know her like you do. But if she hurts you, I will…"

Santana interrupted her with a gentle kiss. "You're my lady knight in shining armor."

Brittany pulled her back into another longer kiss and said. "That was the 'I've missed you' kiss I owed you. I wish it was longer, but too bad we have to leave now if we want to have lunch."

Santana made a strange face. "Brittany, I have to tell you something."

"Yeah?"

"Remember when Headmaster Figgins asked us to make sure every janitor closet was locked? I didn't only lock the doors. I… I cast some spells, too."

"Oh," Brittany muttered.

"This one kinda… you can't leave until an hour later."

Brittany checked by reaching her hand out to the door, but her hand touched an invisible barrier before it.

Santana started to ramble. "I'm sorry. I should have stopped you when you took me here, but I was spacing out, thinking about what happened with Sue and stuff. And this spell cannot be removed. You have to wait until it deteriorates at the end of semester. Well, maybe some Professors can remove it right away, but I didn't see the point of asking them until now."

"No, it's not you fault," Brittany said and smiled. "I think it's funny."

"Maybe I should call Quinn or Puck and ask them to ask a Professor to remove the spell."

"Okay."

Santana looked and her phone and cussed. "Shit. No signal underground."

"It's okay. It's just… what should we do now to kill the time?"

 _I mean, besides making out._ Brittany thought, but did not say it out loud.

"You wanna get back on our tutor session? I can teach from your textbook."

"Good idea, Professor Lopez," Brittany agreed and walked further inside the closet and sat down on the floor.

The girls sat side by side. When they were done with the lesson, there were still 30 minutes left to spend.

"Are you hungry?" Brittany asked her girlfriend.

"A little. You?"

"Me too," Brittany replied and brought out a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. "This is all I have."

They took turn chewing on the jelly beans one by one and announced the flavour until Santana gave up after having the troll's earwax flavour.

Santana checked on her phone and said. "Still 20 minutes left."

 _We should make out._

"We should play _Twenty Questions_ ," Brittany suggested.

"K. You go first."

"Did you give Matt your number?"

Santana snorted out a laugh. "Oh, we're playing _that kind_ of Twenty Questions?"

"Yeah. Well?" Brittany urged Santana to answer.

"Of course, not. I told you I didn't like him," Santana replied with no hesitation. "My turn. Is Trouty Mouth still trying to hit on you?"

"Nope. After Yule Ball, I had a talk with him and made it clear that I was into someone else."

"Oh, who?" Santana teased.

"It's my turn to ask the question," Brittany teased back. "What do your parents do for a living?"

"My dad is a doctor. Doctors are like Healers in muggle world. And my mom just stays home and sells her cakes and pies sometimes. I already know what your parents do, so, do you have any pet?"

"Not yet, but I've always wanted to have a cat. How about you?"

"If you don't count that dead animal on Puck's head, then no."

"Is he dating Quinn, though? They bicker like a married couple."

"You asked two questions in a row, but I guess, yeah. I saw them kissing at a House party, but they don't know that I know. Now I think I should plot a plan for them to end up in this closet and pretend to catch them making out."

"Speaking of this closet, Santana…," Brittany scooted closer. "…if you knew it was cursed, why did you follow me in here? Why didn't you go and find someone to remove the spell?"

"Because…," Santana turned to stare deeply into Brittany's eyes. "I didn't want to leave you alone."

Every time Santana said sweet things to her like this, it made Brittany want to kiss her senseless, so she did so. Santana returned the kiss eagerly. Her hand tangled in Brittany's long blonde hair, while Brittany's hand ran up her thigh to rest on her hip. Their tongues soon came out to play, and unlike other previous times, they fought for dominance and none of them wanted to give in.

Brittany could feel the tingling sensation in her lower stomach when Santana ran her hand up and down her side. She pulled away from the kiss to gasp when the same hand moved to rest on her abdomen.

"Was it too much?" Santana asked concernedly.

"No," Brittany replied and stroked her girlfriend's cheek. "You can touch my anything when we make out. I just want you to know that I want to take it slow with you because you're not like anyone else. You're so special to me."

"You're special to me, too, Britt," Santana said and kissed her gently.

They just stared at each other until Santana's phone rang.

"I guess our 60 minutes in heaven is over," Brittany said.

Santana looked around and chuckled. "More like a hellhole," she quickly added. "The closet, not spending time with you."

Brittany got up and pulled Santana up with her. "Thank you for the lesson. You're a good teacher and a _great_ kisser."

"You're welcome," Santana winked.

"I wanna help you with something, too. But you're already good at everything, so."

"Nah," Santana blushed.

Brittany suddenly recalled something that she had to ask. "Santana, I want to help you with the Patronus Charm."

Santana's eyes dropped to the ground when she mumbled. "You don't have to."

"I want to. At least I wanna try to help you. You don't have to tell me what happened, okay?" Brittany said and reached for Santana's hands.

"Okay," Santana looked up with tears swelling up in her eyes.

Brittany pulled her into a hug by instinct. She still did not know what happened to Santana in the past, but she did not want to push Santana if she was not comfortable to talk about it. All she wanted now was to make Santana happy again.

 _We'll get through this. We're gonna be okay._

* * *

 **A/N: I was sleepy the whole time when I wrote this chapter. So sorry in advance if anything sound wonky. ^_^**

 **Also, next chapter might be a while because of school, job and I have million things to watch. o_O Raise your hand if you ship Clexa from The 100. Yay, I saw that.**


	18. The Patronus Charm

Brittany woke up feeling numb in her head. She was not sure if she had slept at all. Since what happened in the janitor closet five days ago and the way Santana was crying, Brittany found herself awake at night thinking and worrying about her. It also did not help that Santana did not talk about it with her at all in the past few days. And the cold weather in December only encouraged Brittany to pull the blanket over her head and forget about the world.

"Brittany, wake up," a voice came from far away.

Brittany groaned and rolled away from the voice. Suddenly, a hand grabbed on her shoulder and shook her slightly.

"Brittany, you're gonna miss breakfast."

It was Rachel. Brittany threw her blanket away and yawned. It took a few minutes for her to stretch and gathered the strength to get up.

"Morning, R-Ra-ch-chel," Brittany spoke during another yawn.

"Good morning," Rachel replied gloomily.

"Hey. You're okay? How are you doing?"

"You know, that Finn thing. I tried to give him a hint directly and indirectly for him to tell the truth, but he doesn't seem to get it. I'm gonna break up with him."

Brittany was definitely fully awake by what she had just heard. "Rachel, are you sure about this? You two are so cute and perfect together."

"Were," Rachel mumbled.

"From my experience with guys, sometimes they can be… clueless. Maybe you should tell him that you know everything, okay? And then he can say he's sorry and maybe you can put everything behind and move on together."

Rachel pursed her lips together before asking. "You really believe that will work?"

"I do," Brittany said and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Okay. I'll try that," Rachel said and continued. "Enough about me. It's good that you and Santana are doing so well together."

"How do you know? We barely do anything together where people can see us."

"I, along with our friends, noticed how you two mysteriously skipped lunch and Professor Schue's class on Monday. Professor Schue even complained that you should have notified him if you had 'prefect stuff' to attend to. And then Quinn burst out laughing when she heard the words."

"Oh."

"Don't worry. She made up some story after that. She's good at it."

"Oh, cool then. We were kinda stuck in a janitor closet for an hour," Brittany told her friend.

Rachel gave her a smirk. "I knew it. I'm happy for you, Britt."

Brittany guessed that Rachel might think they were making out. They did make out at first, but most of all they skipped the class because Santana was crying and Brittany stayed to comfort her.

 _I don't think Santana want me to tell Rachel or anyone about what happened. I don't even know what made it happen. It's time to do this one thing._

"Thanks," Brittany said briefly. "Rachel, can I borrow your phone to text Santana?"

"Sure. But I don't have her number. Wait, I can ask Quinn."

Brittany walked to Rachel's bed and sat next to her. Rachel opened her drawer and pulled out a pink phone with several gold stars on it. She pushed on the button on top of the phone and turned to look at Brittany's curious face.

"I just turned it on. I hardly use it unless when I want to call my dads," Rachel explained.

"Okay. Texting seems fun. I wanna see you do it," Brittany said while her eyes were still on the phone.

Rachel tapped on the phone skillfully and searched for Quinn's name.

"Here it is," Rachel said while tapping on the letters of the alphabet at the bottom of the phone. "Good… morning… Quinn… How… are… you… today? Can… you… give… me… Santana's… number? Or… just… ask… her… to… reply… this… text. Brittany… wants… to… talk… to… her."

It did not take more than ten seconds for the reply to pop up on the screen.

 _Quinn: "Hey Rach. S's not here. Here's her number 669-328-9321."_

Rachel quickly replied back. _"Thank you, Quinn. Have a great day."_

"Okay, now we will text Santana," Rachel said and asked. "Do you wanna do it?"

"Okay. Sure."

Brittany fumbled on the phone, but she had formed the sentences she meant to write.

" _Heyyy. Meet me at the quidditch pitch today at 6 PM. Don't have dinner before that."_

Rachel read the message Brittany had sent and squealed. "Aww, are you planning a romantic dinner for her?"

"Something like that," Brittany replied.

 _We need to do something about the Patronus Charm issue._ Brittany thought.

Rachel's phone suddenly vibrated in her hand, so Brittany looked down to read.

 _Santana: "WTF who is this? Creep!"_

"Oh, I guess it's because I forgot to tell her who I was," Brittany showed the message to Rachel. "Can you reply her for me? If I do, it would take so long that we might have to miss breakfast today."

Rachel wrote. _"Hi, Santana. This is Rachel. Brittany wanted me to tell you the previous message."_

 _Santana: "What do you want, Pierce?"_

Rachel rolled her eyes and replied. _"I already know you're dating her, so you can drop the act now."_

 _Santana: "Whatever, Berry. Britt – Okay. See you, babe. ;)"_

Rachel made a squealing noise again. "Aww, she called you 'babe' and winked."

Brittany blushed and asked. "So that funny thing at the end is a wink?"

"Yes, Brittany, yes!"

* * *

Brittany stepped out from the Entrance Hall with a picnic basket in her hand. Snow was falling and younger students were having a good time building snowmen or throwing snowballs while most of older students went out of school during the weekend.

Winter here was as cold as in the UK. Brittany could only see white ground in front of her at the moment, but she knew it was not like this everywhere. Fortunately, unlike at UK Hogwarts, inside of the quidditch pitch here was enchanted to be warm to keep the grass green throughout the years. It was the perfect place for a date and a spell practice.

Brittany arrived at the quidditch gate only to realize that she forgot to ask Finn for the key.

 _Dammit! Only Finn, Santana, Mr. Bamboo and Principal Figgins have the key. What do I do now?_

She tried the _Alohomora_ spell, but as expected, it did not work on this lock. The gate was too high to climb as well. Brittany was figuring out what she was supposed to do when she heard a _whoosh_ sound behind her. She turned around and smiled brightly when she found Santana on her Nimbus Roxket.

"Santana! You're early," Brittany said while walking over to her girlfriend.

"Since you wanna meet here, I came here to fly a little while waiting for you," Santana replied after giving Brittany a peck.

"I was supposed to prepare our picnic and everything before you arrived, but I forgot to ask Finn for the key," Brittany pouted and asked. "Do you have the key?"

"Nope, I don't have it with me now," Santana said and smirked. "But I have a broom."

Brittany smiled and hopped on the broom. She wrapped her free arm around Santana's waist and felt the muscles tense. She really loved touching her stomach especially when she knew how Santana would react.

She bit her lip and whispered in Santana's ear. "Take me to the other side."

Santana flew them over the gate and landed on the green grass inside the pitch within a few seconds. Brittany hopped off the broom and prepared their picnic space as fast as she could. She laid her mat on the ground and put the basket on it while Santana left to the dressing room.

It did not take long until Santana walked out with a pack of funny looking cans.

"I figured that you would prepare dinner, so I bought us some muggle soda," Santana explained.

"You're so sweet," Brittany said and approached her girlfriend.

She wished to hold Santana's hand and lead her to the picnic mat, but since Santana's hands were occupied, she wrapped her arm around her shoulder instead.

Santana settled down on the mat along with the soda while Brittany was taking off her coat and scarf, and threw them somewhere on the grass.

"So, what do we have for dinner today?" Santana peeked in the basket after Brittany sat down.

"The usual stuff we always have. I just asked Wonka to put whatever he had in the basket."

"Hmm, looks like he put a card in here, too," Santana brought out a pink card and read. _"Enjoy your dinner with Santana Lopez – Wonka and his friends."_

"What? How did he know whom I was having dinner with? I didn't tell him," Brittany scooted closer to look at the card.

"I swear these elves are so nosy. I bet they know everything that's going on at this school," Santana rolled her eyes and brought out the food.

They had dinner while looking at the stars showing up on the sky one by one. After Santana had the last chicken drumstick, she set aside everything that was between her and Brittany.

"Britt…," Santana started at the same time Brittany hopped on her feet.

Brittany searched in her pocket and pulled out a small pillow. She enlarged it and placed it on the mat.

"Sorry, I forgot that I brought a pillow. What did you wanna say?"

Brittany sat down with an open arm, which persuaded Santana to snuggle closer to her naturally. Their heads hit the pillow, and Brittany had never felt so intimate with someone in her life like she did with Santana at this moment.

Santana wrapped her arm around Brittany's waist and said. "I know you brought me hear to practice _that spell_."

"Oh."

"You probably thought I might avoid it if I knew we were gonna practice it, but I'm not, okay? I told you I was going to try and I meant it."

Brittany kissed her forehead instead of replying anything.

Santana continued. "But I don't want you to expect too much. I don't want you to be disappointed."

"I won't be. I believe in you, Santana," Brittany said determinedly and pulled the other girl closer.

Her breath hitched in her throat when Santana's nose nuzzled her neck in the process. Santana seemed to notice because she propped up on one elbow and started to kiss her neck softly. Brittany automatically threw her head back and sunk deeper into the pillow to allow more access. Santana's lips trailed up the length of her neck slowly until she found a spot below Brittany's left ear that caused the girl below her to moan. Santana kissed the same spot over and over again.

Brittany responded by rolling on top of her girlfriend and kissed on her lips, her jaws and then down to her neck in order to find a spot as well. When Santana pulled her down and their bodies pressed against one another, a voice in Brittany's head told her they had waited long enough.

Another louder voice told her to stop.

Brittany shot her head up instantly.

"Too much?" Santana asked.

"No. I just… you know how fast things can go when we make out. I can't let us do that. I mean, not today until we do what we're here to do."

Santana looked at Brittany for a few seconds and said. "You're right."

Brittany stood up and offered a hand to pull Santana up with her. She guided her further into the pitch.

"So, where do we start?" Santana asked.

"You know Patronus Charm has two forms: corporeal and non-corporeal, right?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe today you can start from non-corporeal. Like, at least make a shield and make it stay for like 10 seconds."

"Good idea."

"So, think of something that makes or made you happy."

"Okay," Santana said and paused. "Um, can you show me first? I wanna see your spirit animal."

"Sure," Brittany agreed and brought out her wand. "It's been a while, so it may not last long."

"I'm sure it will," Santana said encouragingly.

"Okay. _Expecto Patronum!_ " Brittany chanted.

Smoke poured out from the tip of her wand and formed a shape of a unicorn. The details were as distinct as the last time Brittany cast it. The bright silver guardian stayed and ran around the quidditch pitch for at least thirty seconds.

"He or she was beautiful, Britt," Santana said.

"That was Charity. She is a she," Brittany grinned.

"What do you usually think about when you cast her?"

"I usually think about when my dad told me he wasn't really my real dad, but he would love me no matter what. Or when my mom and I came back here and my dad was waiting for us. And then we had a grouphug in our hotel lobby. But…" Brittany turned to face Santana completely.

"But what?"

"This time I thought of when you asked me to be your girlfriend."

"Brittany," Santana breathed out her name and looked at her the way she had never been looked at before.

Brittany stroked her cheek gently. "You can do it, okay?"

Santana took her wand out of her pocket and inhaled deeply. " _Expecto Patronum!_ "

Silver smoke came out from Santana's wand and Brittany waited with anticipation. The smoke was gone within a few seconds.

"It's okay. Just wait for a few minutes and try again, okay?" Brittany said with the softest voice.

Santana nodded and started to pace.

"Okay. I'm ready to try again," she said after a while.

Santana waved her wand and chanted the spell again. This time more smoke came out, but it disappeared before it could form a shape of an animal or even a shield.

"Damn it!" Santana spoke through her gritted teeth.

"Hey. It's okay. It's gonna be oka…"

"It's not okay, Britt! It will _never_ be okay," Santana cut her off and walked back to the mat.

"We can try it other days. You just have to…," Brittany followed her.

"Don't you get it? I thought of you when I tried to cast it, too. But it didn't work. How is that okay!?" Santana grabbed her broom and turned around.

Brittany had a few seconds to register the tears rolling down Santana's face when she already hopped on her broom and flew over the quidditch gate. Brittany tried to run after her, but the locked gate was in her way. Santana was already out of her sight.

Brittany walked back from the gate slowly and put everything back in her basket. She could feel her own tears hot against her cheeks while she was getting dressed.

 _I wish I could be there for her right now. I wish I could take all the pain away._

A _whoosh_ sound startled her. She expected to see Santana coming back, but it was Puck.

"Santana told me to pick you up," Puck said.

"How is she doing? Where is she?" Brittany asked.

"She's in our dorm and just locked herself in her room and…," Puck said and paused after he saw Brittany crying. "Woah. What kind of Mexican food did you have?"

"What?" Brittany asked confusedly.

"That was what Santana told me when I saw her crying, but I know better. Did you two break up?"

"No," Brittany almost yelled the answer. "Just take me back, Puck."

"All right."

* * *

The numbness in her head seemed to be worse than yesterday. Last night, Brittany got back and went straight to bed. She was glad for not running into her close friends, and no one in the common room approached her. But the morning was different.

"Morning, Britt," Mercedes said quietly.

"Hi," Brittany rolled on her side to face her friend.

"You don't look so well. You wanna talk about it?"

"No," Brittany said and added after Mercedes seemed surprised by her rejection. "I mean, I want to, but I don't think Santana want me to tell anyone about any of this."

"All right. Just know that I'm here if you need me. Both of you," Mercedes replied and got up from her bed.

"Thanks, Merced-," Brittany said before she was interrupted by the sound of Rachel's phone vibrating on her nightstand.

Mercedes was already picked the phone up when Brittany flipped on her other side.

"Speaking of the devil," Mercedes said and showed the screen of the phone in her hand.

 _SANTANA_ was written on top of the screen.

Brittany almost jumped from her bed and ran to grab the phone.

"How do I…? How do I talk?" Brittany asked frantically.

Mercedes shook her head and smiled before tapping on a button. "I'll leave you two alone."

"Hello. Santana?" Brittany almost cried out.

"Hey," Santana spoke back softly.

"I was so worried. You're okay? Where are you?" Brittany asked and flopped back down on her bed.

"Don't worry about me. I'm at my grandma's house now."

"What are you doing there?"

"Just visiting. My grandma and my parents will go back to Hogwarts with me tomorrow. They wanna watch tomorrow's match."

"Dang it. I totally forgot about the match before the winter break. I don't wanna compete against you."

"I feel the same," Santana said and sighed. "Look, Britt. I gotta go soon. I'm calling to tell you how sorry I am that I walked out on you like that."

"I'm not mad at you. I can't possibly imagine what you have been through. I shouldn't have pushed you when you don't wanna…"

"I want to, Britt. I wasn't sure at first, but I do now. I want to… for you. And we'll try it again and again."

"If you could see my face right now, you would see the biggest smile ever."

"Actually, we can do that on the phone. I'll teach you how to do it later. But I want you to know that when I thought of you and the spell didn't work, it doesn't mean that…" Santana said and stopped abruptly.

Brittany already knew it in her heart. "I already know by the way you look at me, and the way you kiss me and touch me. I have no doubt, Santana."

 _That you love me and I love you. And I can't wait to tell you in person._

"If you could see my face right now, you would see the biggest smile ever," Santana replied.

"I can imagine it with your cute little dimples."

Santana laughed quietly and said. "I gotta go now. My grandma wants me downstairs. See you tomorrow, m'kay?"

"See ya," Brittany said and stared at the phone until Santana's name disappeared.

When the screen turned black, she saw the biggest smile of her own reflection.

* * *

 **A/N: And that was the unicorn, but actually they're all the unicorns or a bicorn. :3**

 **Anyway, do you think I write too many make out scenes? I can't help it, lol. Also, it's canon that Brittana are quite sexual, sooooooo. ;)**


	19. The Match

Santana was not in the Great Hall. Brittany expected her to already come back from visiting her grandmother, but she was wrong. She figured that it would not make sense if Santana were not at Hogwarts on the game day.

 _Her family is coming to see her play. Maybe she's already at the pitch._ Brittany thought and finished her breakfast.

"Where are you going? There are still time before the match starts," Kurt asked.

Brittany wanted to reply truthfully, but Finn was sitting next to him. "I forgot something. See you guys at the pitch, okay?"

She grabbed her broom and walked outside. The weather was quite cold, so she decided to fly to the pitch instead of walking.

Some students were already at the stands along with teachers and some parents. A few Whities waved at her when they saw her, which brought attention from the adults. Brittany quickly waved back and flew to the entrance to the girls' dressing room.

Brittany was sure that all of Santana's teammates were still having breakfast, so she said out loud after getting inside. "Santana, are you here?"

She walked deeper inside the room and found her girlfriend talking to a woman. She could be 50-years-old or younger. Her built was small, but she looked like she could handle anything. The woman turned her glance swiftly to Brittany when she saw her.

"Oh, hello," Brittany said awkwardly.

" _Mama_ , this is Brittany… Pierce, my… umm… friend," Santana introduced her.

 _Merlin's beard, she's her mom._

It hurt a little bit every time Santana lied about her, but Brittany already promised herself that she would wait until Santana was ready, no matter how long it took.

The woman walked to Brittany and shook her hand eagerly. "Nice to meet you, Brittany. My name is Maribel Lopez."

"Nice to meet you, too, Mrs. Lopez," Brittany said back and smiled at her.

"Oh, please call me Maribel," Santana's mother waved her hand and continued. "So, what did you want with my _mija_?"

"Who?" Brittany asked confusedly.

"She means me," Santana explained.

Maribel Lopez was still looking at her, so Brittany came up with a lie. "Oh, Headmaster Figgins asked me to make sure that you already came back here, so the match can be confirmed."

"Brittany, do you play, too? What is your position in my mija's team?" Maribel asked.

"Mami, she's on the other team," Santana said and stepped next to her mother.

Brittany expected Santana's mother to be disappointed somehow, but she was surprised.

"You're in the White House? Santana here had never talked to me about any friends from the White House," Mrs. Lopez said and turned to her daughter. "Santana, this is so nice!"

Santana rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Mami, can you go now? I don't want my friends to make fun of me that my mom came to see me before the match."

"Brittany doesn't make fun of you," Mrs. Lopez pointed out.

"Yeah, she's nice," Santana mumbled and stole a glance at Brittany. "Please go before _abuela_ thinks you were kidnapped or something."

"All right, I'll go. Don't forget to do your best. I don't want to listen to your abuela yammering about how I didn't raise you right."

Brittany realized and took note in her mind that 'abuela' meant grandmother.

"No pressure at all," Santana said to her mother with a drawling voice.

Mrs. Lopez ignored her and turned to Brittany. "I have to go now, Brittany. I hope you do your best, too."

 _I'm a Seeker, too. That's the problem._ Brittany kept the thought to herself and said goodbye to her.

Santana walked her mother out and came back in no time. "So, what's up, Britt-Britt?"

"Hey, sugar-bun," Brittany replied and wiggled her eyebrows.

"What?" Santana stopped in her tracks.

"I'm working on my terms of endearment for you."

"Well, anything that doesn't have the word 'sugar' in it would be great. 'Sugar-bun' reminded me of a certain someone."

"Who?"

"Sugar Motta? Your little annoying friend?" Santana said and stepped closer.

"Ha, you just used her real name instead of _Richie Bitch_ ," Brittany laughed at her girlfriend.

Santana slapped Brittany's arm playfully. "You tricked me."

Brittany said proudly. "I have tricked you so many times," her voice turned into a softer tone. "When I first got here, sometimes I pretended to not understand your insults."

"I know," Santana said before grabbing Brittany's chin and kissed her gently.

Brittany pulled away only to say. "Because I didn't wanna fight with you."

"I know," Santana mumbled against her lips and kissed her again.

This time, it took a long while for them to stop kissing.

"It's getting harder, isn't it?" Brittany asked.

"Tell me about it," Santana replied while her eyes were still on Brittany's lips. "Distract me."

"Are you nervous about the match?"

"You heard my mom. My abuela has this idea that I'm her perfect granddaughter. She didn't talk to me for a week the last time I lost to you," Santana said and untangled herself from Brittany.

"Just tell her it was a fluke that I won, and you were distracted by me being on top of you."

"Haha, funny."

"Look, you're perfect and awesome," Brittany said firmly. "And your mom seems super nice. She should be happy."

"No, I'm not perfect," Santana replied and continued. "Look, Britt, don't worry about me, okay? You just do your best."

Brittany could not help but worry anyway. But she said. "Okay."

Santana checked the time on her phone and said. "Jeez, where are Lauren and Kitty? They should be here to get dressed already," she, then, turned to Brittany. "What's your plan for Christmas?"

"Hmm, the usual. Just hanging out with my family at the hotel. You?"

"My abuela is going on a trip with her big committee or something like that. And my dad has to be at hospital most of the time. So I guess it's just me and my mom baking homemade things, which no one wanna buy."

"Why not? Your pie is heaven. I'm sure everything else tastes awesome, too."

"It's Christmas, Britt. People bake their own cakes."

"Not our guests at hotel," Brittany came up with a thought.

"What are you saying?"

"Maybe you and your mom can come to bake at our hotel, and we'll serve whatever you make at breakfast and dinner. I'm sure my parents will agree with me on this."

"What if… umm… what if people see us together?"

"Everyone knows we're not fighting anymore. You can just tell them you're there for the job or something."

Santana got lost in her thought and said. "If I do this, will you think I'm clingy?"

"I love you being clingy," Brittany said with no hesitation.

 _Shit. I just said 'I love you' to her indirectly. I shouldn't have said that when she has to worry about the match now._

Fortunately, Santana did not notice, or it looked that way. "Okay. I'll ask my mom. I'm sure she'll be down with this, too."

"Perfect!" Brittany hugged her girlfriend tightly.

They could heard the sound of the dressing room's door opening and closing, so Brittany let go of Santana and sprinted to the other side of the room. She could hear Lauren and Kitty, two of Pentagon's Chasers greeting Santana, and Santana complaining about them being late.

Brittany started to change her clothes only when Dottie, the other girl in the White House team arrived.

 _This match is gonna be so rough._

* * *

The sky was foggy today. Brittany felt like she had spent an hour flying around, trying to look for the golden snitch. She noticed that Santana was doing the same, but the other girl somehow kept her distance.

Brittany had a chance to see Santana's family when she flew past their stand. Maribel Lopez was sitting between a lady with short black hair and a dark skinned man with glasses, whom Brittany assumed to be Santana's grandmother and father.

Santana's father seemed quiet, but kind, while her grandmother looked even more intimidating than Sue Sylvester. Her lips were pursed tightly and her hands rested on her lap all the time. Brittany was not surprised why Santana was nervous when she talked about her.

Brittany must have been deep in her thoughts because she startled when Santana flew past her. Their arms brushed, and when Brittany's eyes followed her, she found that Santana was looking back.

 _Did she just let me know she found the snitch?_ Brittany thought and followed her.

She could see the golden snitch moving up and down through the fog. It was about fifteen metres above Santana. She was not sure if Santana did it on purpose, but Santana only moved when Brittany got close enough.

" _Don't worry about me, okay? You just do your best."_ Brittany thought about their conversation in the dressing room and made up her mind. _All right, then._

The two girls flew side by side upwards and reached their hands out at the same time. The tip of their fingers paralleled with each other's and they went at the same speed. It was impossible to tell who would catch the snitch at this point.

When the golden object was within their reach, Brittany tilted her hand to the left out of its way and let Santana grab it.

"What the…? Britt?" Santana turned to her with confusion on her face.

Brittany was shocked by her own action as well. Before either of them could say anything more, Puck showed up next to Santana and lifted her hand up.

"Eff yeah! We won!" Puck said and lowered his voice when he saw Brittany. "Sorry, but also not sorry."

Brittany did not respond because she was too busy looking at Santana who seemed to be angry with her right now.

 _Of course, she's mad. What was I thinking?_

Santana held a gaze with her until her other teammates came to congratulate her. Brittany decided to fly away at that moment.

* * *

Brittany was still in her quidditch uniform when Dottie, Lauren and Kitty left the dressing room. She realized that she had to talk to Santana about what just happened. Santana was never mad at her since they started dating, and Brittany wanted to make things right with her again, especially when they would not see each other for at least a few days after tomorrow.

It had been too long and Santana had not showed up.

 _Maybe she has to meet her family at the stand._

Brittany got up from the bench she was sitting on and started to change into her normal clothes.

She was halfway through wearing her grey wool sweater when Santana marched in the room. Santana's eyes fixed on Brittany's exposed stomach, but quickly flicked back up.

"Tell me you didn't let me catch the snitch on purpose," Santana sounded mad, but she was more curious.

"I can't tell you that," Brittany said after pulling her shirt down. "I'm sorry. I didn't know what I was thinking. I guess I didn't want your grandma to be mad at you and your mom. And it could have gone either way, right? You found it before me. And you could have caught it instead of me."

"But you _made sure_ it went one way, in my hand," Santana made a point.

"Right," Brittany admitted. "I'm sorry. I'll tell Headmaster Figgins and we'll have a rematch, and…"

"No, don't do that. You could get suspended or even expelled," Santana's voice softened. "What were you thinking?"

Santana stepped in Brittany's personal space and locked eyes with her.

 _Maybe it's because I love you so much I do these crazy things._

"Santana, I l-…"

Santana lips attacked hers before she could finish the sentence. Brittany was soon pressed against the lockers while Santana kissed her feverishly. Her hand brushed past her breast to her stomach and slid under her sweater. Brittany's breath became shaky due to Santana's hand was still cold from the weather outside. She hardly had time to collect herself when Santana's lips trailed to her jaw and neck. She started to suck on Brittany's favorite spot gently.

"That feels so good, baby," Brittany panted out and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend.

Santana reacted by biting on her neck lightly.

"Ouch. I take it that you're still mad at me," Brittany shifted her eyes down to look at Santana.

The shorter girl's eyes were darker than ever. They were even darker than her uniform if it was possible. Brittany could feel herself getting wetter by Santana's eyes alone.

"Yes, I'm mad," Santana muttered and her lips found Brittany's again. "And hot… and bothered…," she talked between kisses. "…because of you."

Her words were enough to make Brittany moan. With one swift move, Santana was pressed against the lockers. Santana's hand, which was still under Brittany's shirt moved from her stomach to her back to pull Brittany closer. Her free hand grabbed the nape of Brittany's neck and brought their lips together for another passionate kiss.

"I want you, Santana Lopez," Brittany mumbled against her girlfriend's lips.

"You mean…," Santana did not have to say the whole the sentence.

"Yes, if you want to."

"I want to," Santana said and ran her hand up and down on Brittany's abdomen again.

"But not here, right?"

"Not here," Santana confirmed with her. "Do you know anywhere we can…?"

 _If the castle here has the same model as the one in UK, then…_

"If I remember correctly…," Brittany started and leaned in to nudge her nose against Santana's ear.

She enjoyed observing Santana's ear turned into a red shade before whispering the place and time they should meet tonight.

"I don't get it. Is there even a room there?" Santana asked.

"You'll see," Brittany replied and gave her a mischievous grin.

"Okay," Santana said and withdrew her hand from under Brittany's shirt. "Now go. I have to change."

"You want me to wait?"

"Are you sure you'll _just_ wait and not try anything with me?"

"No, I'm so not sure," Brittany agreed with her and made her way out. "Toodles, cupcake."

 _I'll tell her tonight then._

* * *

Most of people already left the quidditch pitch, including Santana's family. Brittany was heading to the gate when she noticed Finn sitting alone on a stand.

She got on her broom and flew to him instantly.

"Hey, Cap. What are you doing here?"

Finn looked at her strangely before speaking. "I just need some time to think."

"You're okay? I know you and Rachel aren't doing so well. I hope everything works out soon."

"I… I just want to be alone right now, Brittany," Finn sounded distant.

Brittany thought he might be upset about Rachel or some problem that she should not be involved. "All right, then. See you around."

Brittany flew over the gate and looked back at her teammate and found that he was still looking at her.

 _That's weird._

* * *

 **A/N: Wow, I can't believe I take 20 chapters to get to M rate. o_O**

 **Hope you enjoy this chapter. I have a feeling that the next chapter will be updated sooner than usual. ;)**

 **Speculations are welcome, but I won't tell you if you're right or wrong. :P**

 **ALSO IT'S HEMO'S BIRTHDAY. GO TWEET HER!**


	20. Love

Brittany got back in her room after brushing her teeth, but the time on her clock on the nightstand was still too far from 10 PM. She flopped on her bed and started playing with her stuffed animal, the one Santana gave her.

Mercedes was still outside somewhere, while Rachel was already asleep. Brittany turned to look at her friend and a pang of guilt hit her. Rachel made her think of Finn and all of her teammates whom she had just threw under the bus, and they had no idea about it.

She had already weighed the pros and cons of telling Headmaster Figgins many times in her head. It was only fair to get a rematch and face the consequences of her action. But if she told him, she could get suspended or expelled, which Brittany thought it would be deserving. The only reason that kept her from confessing was Santana. If they got a rematch, people would start asking questions and they would know that Santana was dating her, and it could hurt Santana. She could not let that happen.

Brittany got up and put on her robe and slippers when the clock displayed 9:50 PM. There were only a few people in the common room and even less so outside. Brittany urged the last White House student to get inside and walked to the left corridor.

Surprisingly, Santana was already there. Everything she wore was in black. Her long hair spread on her back. Her black button-up shirt was tucked in her tight jeans. After all this time, Brittany was still amazed by how gorgeous she was, but Santana was especially sexy today.

Santana was inspecting the tapestry with a centaur on it when she turned to Brittany. She grinned widely when she saw that Brittany was in animal print pajamas, a pink robe and fluffy slippers.

"And here I am, dressed to impress my girl," Santana said.

Brittany made sure no one else was there and kissed her girlfriend hard on the lips. "It worked."

Santana hummed against her lips and pulled away. "I don't wanna sound horny, but where is the room? I tried to look behind the tapestry, but the centaur threatened to bite off my hand."

"It's a surprise," Brittany reached for Santana's hand and guided her away from the wall. "Close your eyes and think of the room you want us to… you know. I'll hold your hand and make sure you won't walk into a wall or hit something."

"Why do we have to walk?" Santana asked and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Just… trust me and do it, please," Brittany said and kissed her girlfriend on the cheek.

"Okay," Santana replied and closed her eyes.

Brittany walked Santana back and forth in front of the empty wall opposite of the tapestry, and occasionally turned to look at her face.

 _She's so cute. I bet she's so cute when she sleeps. I won't even care if she snores._

The door to the Room of Requirement was starting to appear, so Brittany stopped walking and told Santana to open her eyes.

Santana's eyes widened when she saw the door that did not exist a few minutes ago. "I've been here for almost 6 years. How the hell did I not know about this?"

"It's the _Room of Requirement_. We have one like this in UK. You can think of anything and it will appear in this room," Brittany said and added. "You really should read about UK Hogwarts sometimes."

"I will."

"You'll be even more surprised when you get in," Brittany opened the door for her. "I guess, me too. I wanna see what room you were thinking of."

Brittany followed Santana inside and closed the door softly. It made a click sound and disappeared.

The room was dark, but it was mostly because of the decoration. The wallpaper was dark grey as much as the pillows and the sheet that covered the big bed. Brittany saw a few picture frames with Santana in it and realized where she was, and she loved the fact that Santana wanted their first time to happen in her bedroom.

"This is amazing," Santana mumbled. "This looks exactly like my bedroom."

"I love your room. It's so beautiful."

"Wait, we're still at Hogwarts, and not at my house, right? I don't want my parents to walk in on us."

"We're at Hogwarts," Brittany assured with her. "And there isn't even a door for anyone to walk in on us."

"So how do we get out of here?" Santana sounded nervous.

"Santana, baby, relax. It will appear back when we want it to."

"Sorry. I just want everything to be perfect and special for you."

Santana was so sweet, and it made Brittany want her even more. She could not waste any more time to chit-chatting.

"It already is," Brittany said and pulled Santana closer by the waist of her jeans.

Their nose bumped and Brittany really enjoyed just looking into the dark pools of eyes in front of her and every detail on Santana's face.

"Maybe I'll be more relaxed when I'm out of my tight, tight jeans," Santana whispered with her husky voice.

Brittany did not have to be told twice. She crashed her lips on Santana's and fumbled with button and the zip of her jeans, while Santana kicked off her own shoes. She thanked Merlin and everyone she could think of for the fact that Santana was not wearing a belt. It took seconds to unbutton and unzip the jeans, but it was harder to take them off. Brittany had to stop kissing Santana just so she could focus on sliding the fabric down her slender legs. She also had a brilliant idea to rip down her panty along with them.

The process required Brittany to be on her knees and she gladly did so. She could smell the scent of Santana's sex, and now she could see it when Santana lifted her legs up and stepped out of her jeans. Brittany wanted to taste it so bad, but she planned on doing it when they were both on the bed and naked.

She planted soft kisses on Santana's lower stomach and travelled up. The hem of Santana's shirt rid up on her torso and caused Brittany to look up. She chuckled when she found that Santana was trying to take off her own shirt without unbuttoning it, and now it was stuck on her elbows.

"Oh, Santana," Brittany said and quickly got on her feet. "You're so adorable."

She gently brought Santana's arms down and unbuttoned her shirt slowly to tease her. But when she saw how intense Santana was looking at her, it took everything within her not to tear the shirt off of her.

Brittany slid Santana's shirt off when she was done with the last button. A black bra was the only piece of clothes left on her girlfriend and Brittany was eager to get rid of it. She hooked her finger under a strap when Santana swatted her hand away.

"You, clothes, off, first," Santana kept it simple.

Brittany started to undo her robe's belt, but she was distracted by the sight of Santana walking and swaying her hips towards her bed while unhooking her own bra and threw it away. Her mouth watered when Santana crawled on the bed, and even more so when she turned around and revealed her perfect round breasts.

Brittany found herself stumble forward, but Santana interrupted her. "Uh-uh. You're not allowed on my bed until you're _completely_ naked."

"So you like to watch people stripping, huh?" Brittany asked.

"Actually, this is the first time I'm enjoying it," Santana leaned on the headrest and crossed her legs.

Santana's action only urged Brittany to strip faster. She threw her robe in Santana's face and almost had a heart attack when Santana sniffed on it.

She unbuttoned her shirt while locking eyes with Santana the whole time. Santana's eyes dropped down and her mouth parted when she found out that Brittany was not wearing a bra. Brittany dropped her shirt on the floor, followed by her pants and underwear.

Brittany swore Santana was drooling when she climbed on her bed in the same manner as Santana did earlier. Santana could not wait, so she scooted over and pulled Brittany into a heated kiss. They were in sitting position and battling for dominance to be on top. Brittany's hand travelled from Santana's waist up to her right breast and massaged it. She could feel Santana's nipple harden in her palm and had the need to touch both of them. Her other hand came up and reached for Santana's left breast when Santana took that chance to hook her leg behind Brittany's knee and climbed on top of her.

Santana smirked and dipped her head down to kiss Brittany. The kiss was slow and sensual this time, but the effect was the same.

"You're so beautiful," Santana said and kissed her again.

Brittany wrapped her arms around Santana and brought the front of their body together. They both gasped when they merged, and Brittany felt like she was on fire. One of Santana's legs fell between hers naturally and Brittany's knee buckled uncontrollably. She could feel her center rubbing against Santana's thigh.

"Oh my God, you're so wet, baby," Santana murmured.

"It's all for you. I'm so ready for you," Brittany breathed out.

Santana responded with something in Spanish that Brittany did not understand and shoved her tongue back in Brittany's mouth again. Brittany sucked on it and grabbed on Santana's butt in hoping for Santana's thigh to cause more friction.

Santana got the message and started to build a rhythm. Her mouth left Brittany's to her neck. She showered her neck with the combination of kissing, sucking and licking, while her hand was pinching on her nipple at the same time.

Brittany's eyes rolled back in her head. And then, Santana stopped kissing her neck and moving her hips completely. Brittany was going to complain about the tease, so she opened her eyes just in time to see Santana taking the other nipple in her mouth.

Brittany moaned loudly with the voice she could not believe was her own. Santana flicked her tongue across the tip of her breast and circled around it. Brittany held on the back of Santana's head to push herself further into Santana's mouth. Santana took that moment to look at her through her eyelashes, and it was the sexiest moment in Brittany's life.

Santana gave another stroke on her nipple and sucked on it until she was sure Brittany was satisfied. Her mouth, then, moved downwards to her stomach.

"I love your abs," Santana said before starting to lick from above Brittany's bellybutton upwards to the defined line on the upper part of her stomach. "Especially here."

"And I love your tongue," Brittany replied and stroke her girlfriend's hair gently.

Santana's mouth moved downwards again.

 _If she kisses me down there, I'm gonna… I'm gonna… But I want to kiss her more. I want her to see me when I…_

"Santana," Brittany called out.

"Umm-hmm?" Santana hummed against the inside of Brittany's thigh.

"Come here. I wanna k-kiss y-you," Brittany had a hard time to form a word.

"Anything you want, gorgeous," Santana climbed on top of her again and went straight into a kiss. "I just wanna make you… happy."

Brittany kissed her deeply and rolled her hips upwards.

Then she whispered in Santana's ears. "I wanna kiss you when I come."

"Oh God, Britt," Santana moaned and did as she was asked.

Santana's hand ran between their bodies down to Brittany's center. Her middle finger stroked the outer part hesitantly a few times. The action made Brittany recall that Santana had never been with a girl before.

"Just do what you do to yourself, baby," Brittany told her softly. "I want to feel your finger inside of me."

Santana moaned again and slipped her finger inside with ease. She moved it in and out, and picked up the pace while Brittany kissed on her neck and scratched her side.

"Is this g-good?" Santana asked.

"More plea-…"

Brittany was cut off when Santana's second finger entered her instantly. She could feel herself tighten around Santana's fingers while Santana started to pump them in and out again.

"Britt, tell me."

"A little higher, a little…," Brittany instructed her girlfriend only to be interrupted by her own cry of pleasure when Santana hit her spot. "Y-yes. There."

Santana kept the same pace and pressed her thumb on Brittany's clit, and earned a long moan. "You like that, babe?"

"Yesss, San-tana," Brittany said with shaky breathe and pulled Santana down to kiss her again.

Santana's hand moved faster and faster. Brittany responded by scraping her nails on Santana's back and it only drove Santana to higher speed.

"Uh, yess, Santy, don't stop."

"Never."

"I'm gonna… I'm gonna come."

Santana kept pumping in and out over and over again. When Brittany was over the edge, Santana removed her fingers outside and shoved them back in for one last time.

"Oh God, shit, Santana," Brittany panted after a wave of orgasm washed over her.

Santana kept her promise and gave Brittany a lazy kiss. Brittany realized that her fingers were still inside and smiled against her lips.

"You're so sexy," Santana said and slowly withdrew her hand.

Brittany was thinking of her response when Santana started licking her index finger, and she was kind enough to offer her middle finger for Brittany to clean. Santana kissed her as soon as she was done. It was not the first time Brittany had tasted herself, but it was different to do it with someone she loved.

With one swift move, Brittany flipped Santana on her back and hovered over her. She pulled away from the kiss just to look at her.

Santana giggled and drew circles on Brittany's bicep. "You're gonna burn holes through my head or what?"

"I just…," Brittany stroked Santana's hair gently and said what she wanted to say for so long. "I love you so much."

There was a shift on Santana's face. Brittany expected that Santana could be either excited or stunned when she told her, but she did not expect her to be so _terrified_. And she definitely did not expect Santana to push her off of her.

Santana moved to sit on the edge of her bed. "You… you can't."

 _What is going on?_

Santana started to shiver, so Brittany grabbed her robe and put it over her shoulders. She wrapped herself in the blanket and sat next to her girlfriend.

"Santana, what…," Brittany started.

"This is a mistake," Santana said and got up from the bed. "I shouldn't have started anything with you. I'm so stupid."

Brittany was confused rather hurt by what she had just heard. When Santana started to walk towards the door, she jumped on her feet and stopped her.

"Santana, what's going on? Did I do something wrong?"

"You?" Santana asked with tears rolling down her face. "It's me. And you deserve so much better."

"I don't think you realize how amazing you are," Brittany said while wiping the tears away from Santana's cheeks.

Santana flinched away from the touch. "You don't know the real me."

"But I do. You're a good person. And I'm so lucky to have you as my girlfriend and…"

Santana cut her off. "You don't know _everything_ about me, Britt."

Brittany finally figured out what was happening and dared to ask. "Is this about… what happened to you in the past?"

Santana's silence confirmed that she was right, so Brittany continued. "Can you tell me about it?"

"You should forget about me and let me go," Santana's voice broke.

She turned away to look for her clothes, but it was not before Brittany grabbed her on the wrist. "I can't do any of that. I love you."

Santana shook her head. "You shouldn't."

"Santana, listen to me," Brittany said and cupped her face. "If you don't wanna tell me about it, then you have to talk to someone, your parents, Quinn or whomever. This is killing you."

"I'm… I'm not sure, Britt."

"Then please don't leave. Please stay. We'll get some rest and figure it out tomorrow, okay?"

Santana seemed hesitant, but she let Brittany lead her back to the bed.

Brittany covered the blanket over both of them after Santana lied down. She was not sure if Santana wanted to be held or left alone, but Santana decided for her by slinging her arm across her stomach and snuggled closer.

Brittany stroked her back and kissed her forehead.

After a while, she was not sure if Santana was already asleep, but she wanted to say it again anyway. "I love you so much."

She could feel Santana freeze in her arm. The smaller girl sat up and Brittany thought she was going to leave again.

Instead, Santana intertwined their fingers together and started telling her story.

* * *

 **A/N: Ugh, I suck. I can't write sex scenes. :O**

 **You were supposed to know about Santana's past in this chapter, but the sex scenes took away the whole thing. You can't blame me, right? :P**

 **EDIT: If you are re-reading or have just read this for the first time, I'm sorry that I haven't updated for two weeks now. I meant to write the new chapter this week, but I just realized that I have two exams coming up. So I'm truly sorry to keep you waiting. But I know that the chapter about Santana's past will require the best state of mind to write, so I can't do that now. Hopefully, I can do it after I'm done with the exams. Thanks again for reading this fic and help me keep going. :)**

 **EDIT 2: I'm so, so, so, sorry that I have not updated yet. I really wanted to. But you know what happened to one of my favorite characters from The 100, right? It makes me so sad and depressed I can't even do anything productive. I don't know when I'll start writing again, but please know that I will not abandon this fic. Thank you for reading.**


	21. Maxine

**Santana's POV (First person)**

That's it. Today is the day I never thought would come. I never thought of talking to anyone about this ever. But here I am, about to tell Brittany _everything_. She needs to know the truth. She needs to know who I really am.

Brittany uses her elbows to support herself and sits up next to me. We rest on the headboard together. Her hand never leaves mine.

"You know, that rumour about me…," I start.

Britt doesn't say anything. She just nods to encourage me to go on.

"…It's true."

More complete silence.

I expect her to be shocked or scared. It's surprising that she's still holding my hand right now.

I dare myself to turn to look at her. Her eyebrows frown. Her sight sets on the dark space in front of her.

"Who did you…?" Brittany asks.

She can't even say the word.

I take a deep breath. I'm ready to say the name that hasn't passed my lips for over two years when Brittany interrupted me.

"No," she turns her head to my side, but she still doesn't look at me. "Tell me from the start how it happened."

I swallow and start from the very beginning.

"Three years ago, there was a girl moving into my neighborhood. Our neighbors kinda adopted her."

"What's her name?"

"Her name _was_ … Maxine," I feel my throat tighten, like someone is choking me.

Britt doesn't say anything, so I continue.

"She moved from France. My neighbors, Jorge and Mariana, told us that her parents were murdered and she was the only one left in her family. Jorge knew her parents, and that's why they adopted her."

"How did she look like?" Britt sounds interested, but something tells me she also hesitates to ask at the same time.

"Curly blonde hair. Tanned skin. Emerald eyes," I never forget her face. "She had a gap between her teeth."

"What was she like?"

"Strong and brave, and so caring."

I don't know how I sounded, but Brittany figures it out quickly.

"You loved her."

"Yes," I'm very sure about that. "She was one my best friends besides Quinn."

"Did she go to Hogwarts?"

"No. She was homeschooled," I say and inhale. "At first I didn't know why, but then I knew."

"Why?"

Britt is holding my hand with both of her hands now.

"We hung out a lot, either at her house or mine. I guessed it was because we were the only two families with magic in the area. But it was still weird because she barely left her house or went out of Lima Heights.

So one day I asked her why, and she told me. She told me that her parents were murdered by a werewolf gang in France. I don't remember the gang's name, but they were powerful and dangerous."

"Why did they kill her parents?"

"Revenge, I guess. Her parents were Aurors working in special department that handled only werewolf cases, especially the ones who didn't care about killing people when they turned."

"So she was afraid that the gang would come to get her, too, right?" Brittany asks.

"She wasn't. She wasn't afraid of anything," I recall one of the reasons I loved Maxine. "Jorge and Mariana were the ones who asked her to not expose herself too much. It was for her safety."

"How… how old was she?"

"She was a few months younger than me."

Brittany nods.

"Time passed and everything seemed to be peaceful and safe. Jorge and Mariana let Max go out more often. So one day I took her to the river near by and we fed the ducks together. We sat and talked. And then she told me she hadn't kissed anyone before."

I feel myself tremble, and Britt is quick enough to pull the blanket up to my shoulders. Her hand finds mine again and squeezes it gently.

I continue. "I wasn't sure what she wanted me to do until she leaned in. And then we were kissing. I had kissed many boys before, but this was different. It was when I… when I…"

"When you realized you were into girls," Brittany finishes the sentence for me.

"Yeah," I say. "It was also the first time I fell in love."

Britt brings my hand to her lips and kisses my knuckles. My heart warms by her gesture, but I wonder if it will be the last time she does this when I finish telling her the story.

"It was the only time we kissed, and I didn't even care. I just wanted to spend time with her. After that, for a whole year, we barely spent time apart. I mean, I had to go back to Hogwarts sometimes, but I always came home on the weekend to hang out with her if I could. I was looking forward to that summer because I would be near her everyday.

But it wasn't like I expected. Sometimes, when I wanted to take her somewhere, she said she already had a plan or something like that. And then everything made sense when she brought her boyfriend to Jorge's birthday party."

"I'm sorry," Brittany mumbles.

I shake my head. "I'm not upset about that anymore. But yeah, it hurt like hell when she introduced him to me. But that wasn't the worst thing that happened that night."

"What happened after that?"

"I felt used even though it wasn't her fault. She never led me on after we kissed. It wasn't anyone's fault, but I was angry anyway. So I left her house. I ran to the field near by the river. It was dark and chilly at night. I was sitting alone, trying to clear my head when she sat next to me."

"She left the party to look for you?"

"Yeah. I asked her why she would leave her boyfriend and came here. She told me that she worried about me. And then… she said that… she said…," my voice is broken. "She loved me… as a friend, but she loved me more than she loved him, more than she loved Jorge and Mariana."

I try my best to hold back my tears, but it's so hard now. "And I understood her. I stopped being mad at her completely. I was going to tell her how sorry I was for making her worry when they showed up."

"The werewolves?"

I nod. "Two of them, a hairy man and a very tall woman. They were not in their wolf form, but I could tell who they were by the look on Max's face. We were so terrified, and I couldn't do anything when they took her.

I tried to run after them, but that woman jinxed me and I couldn't get up for a while. As soon as I got out of that spell, I ran back to Jorge's house, but no one was there anymore.

I hurried back to my house and found my mom there. She told me that muggles found Max badly injured outside of their house, and they already took her to the hospital. My dad, Jorge and Mariana went there, too, as soon as they heard the news. I was so relieved that she was alive, but…"

"She was bitten, wasn't she?"

I nod again. "She was. Jorge and Mariana wanted to move her to St. Mungo's, but her wounds were already healing. It wasn't until three days later when she regained consciousness. Her adoptive parents hardly left her side, but I managed to be alone with her one day.

I told her that I was sorry. I told her that if I didn't leave her house that night, any of this wouldn't happen. She just smiled and shook her head. She said it wasn't my fault. She said the werewolf gang would attack her if they had other chances anyway.

And then I held her hand and told her that I would take care of her, and love her no matter what she became. And that was when she grabbed my hand so… hard. I wasn't sure where she got all of that strength, but I guessed it was because she was a werewolf now.

And she told me that those werewolves let her live on purpose. She said they wanted her to live as a creature that killed her parents."

I'm starting to sob uncontrollably. Brittany tries to comfort me, but I want to finish the story first.

"And she said that… she didn't want to live like this. She wanted to be with her parents, and she wanted me to _help_ her. It took me a while to realize what she meant.

I came up with many reasons like we were not allowed to use magic in a place full of muggles, or how I didn't have strong intention to use _Avada Kedrava_ and stuff like that. She waited till I ran out of excuses and looked at the IV next to her bed."

"What is an IV?" Brittany asks.

"It's the thing you hook up in blood veins at muggles' hospitals. It helps the patients hydrated or relief the pain, depending on what you put in the tube, but you can be overdosed if you have too much."

"I see."

"I guessed she saw it in the movies or something. But since my dad is a doctor, I knew this kind of stuff. She wanted me to let the fluids into her system so much enough to k-kill her. I didn't want to do it, but she begged me. She said only I could do it because she didn't think Jorge and Mariana would let her go. She said it wouldn't be painful this way, and it was what she really wanted.

So I did it. I adjusted the pump and waited. I sat next to her, and we talked until her eyes were starting to close. I thought I wouldn't hear her voice again, but she said thank you and told me she loved me before she…"

I can't talk anymore at this point. Hot tears are streaming down my face when Britt pulls me into her arm. It's not until I feel my forehead dampen that I realize she's crying, too.

I don't know how long I have let her hold me, but I know I don't deserve this.

I lift my head from her shoulder instantly and wipe my face with the back of my hands.

Brittany seems to be confused by my action. "Santana…"

"Go ahead and tell me," I tell her.

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me you don't wanna be with me anymore, now that you know what I've done."

"Why wouldn't I…?" Britt says and grabs both of my hands. "Listen. You didn't do anything wrong. You did what she wanted you to do. You made sure she was happy."

I'm crying again. I hate being weak, but with Britt I just don't seem to care.

"You don't understand. Jorge and Mariana were so mad at me when they walked into the room and found out what happened. Even though they finally understood why I did it, they were heartbroken. And then they moved away. They probably didn't wanna see my face anymore."

"You don't know that."

I ignore her words. "And then I was called for a hearing at the Ministry of Magic. I told them the truth, and they just let me go. There wasn't any punishment. I still don't understand why."

"Because you did the right thing. You did the best thing you could do in that situation," Brittany says and strokes my cheek with her thumb.

"But I regret it everyday. What if… there will be a cure for werewolves some day? What if… she would have learned to be okay with being a werewolf?"

"I don't think she would have. That's why she asked you to do it."

I don't know why Britt being cool with everything is pissing me off. "Why are you being okay with this!? You, the judge, the jurors, my parents, Headmaster Figgins, all of you."

"Headmaster Figgins?" Brittany looks puzzled.

"Yeah, he knows. You must have noticed how he always lets my snark comments slide and barely punishes me for many bad things I did at this school. I guess he thinks I need to be coddled or something," I say and add. "At least some of your housemates hate me."

"Wait. You made people hate you on purpose? Because you wanted to be punished for what you did to Maxine?"

She's right, but I don't want to admit it. I clench my jaw and don't say anything.

"That's bullshit," Britt speaks loud and clear.

I expected her to give me hundreds of reasons for me to forgive myself, but 'that's bullshit' is the last thing I expected to hear.

I turn to face her and I'm surprised to see her look so angry. I don't know what to say, so I wait for her to do the talking first.

"You're a dummy," she surprises me again. "Don't you see how we all see it how it was? If you tell Puck or Quinn, or anyone else, they would think the same, because guess what, you didn't do anything wrong."

"I killed her!"

"You saved her!"

"I ruined Jorge's and Mariana's lives."

"You didn't," Brittany says sharply. "Those werewolves did. And they're the ones who need to be punished."

"They were. The Aurors already took care of them," I tell Brittany.

"That's great," Brittany is studying me. "Then there's nothing else to worry about, right?"

"There is. Another person responsible is still here."

"Look," Brittany's voice is calm again. "You need to stop blaming yourself. It wasn't your fault."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because it's true. And because Maxine said so," Britt has never sounded more confident than she does right now. "She's probably in heaven with her parents right now, and doing something French people do, like having French toast."

Britt never fails to make me smile.

"You really believe that?" I ask.

"I do."

"I just feel that… if I forgive myself, I will forget about her one day."

"You won't. She will always be in your heart."

"How do you know?"

"Because you loved her."

I think she's right. It's simple like that.

I give Brittany a faint smile, and she smiled back.

I don't know how or when, but our heads hit the pillows and Britt is holding me again.

"Promise me you'll try to forgive yourself," Brittany mumbled against my forehead.

"Promise."

I take in her scent and let myself be truly happy again.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm so sorry it took a month and a half to update this. (You can see the reasons in Chapter 20's A/N.) I'm still busy and depressed or whatever, but I don't want you guys to wait any longer. ^_^**

 **This is the Santana's past I was holding out on for so long. Sorry if it's lacking or if you expected a better thing, but this was the original plan. You may think why Santana says it like it's her secret when her parents, Figgins and a few other people already know, but what they don't know is that Santana was in love with Maxine. That's why she says she's never talked to anyone about this.**

 **I also wrote it first person POV for the first time because it fits with the storytelling vibe.**

 **Hope you like this chapter. Reviews are always welcome. :)**


	22. Christmas Chaos: Part 1

The train moved forward as soon as Brittany got on it. She was panting after running and carrying her luggage. The girl did not expect to be almost late, but morning cuddling with Santana took longer than she was planning to.

She was happy they got closer than they were before and felt like they could tell each other anything. Santana left to get her luggage at Pentagon's dormitories after they got out of the Room of Requirement. Even though they were allowed to go home by their own vehicles or Floo Network, travelling by train was a tradition Brittany would like to keep.

Brittany went through bogey after bogey to find her friends. She found Rachel sitting with Mercedes in the one before the last.

"Hey guys," Brittany greeted.

"Brittany, I thought you asked your mom to pick you up because you might be late," Mercedes said.

"I changed my mind, owled my mom and ran all the way here," Brittany explained and sat down. "I've missed riding on the train with you guys."

"Me too," Rachel replied.

"Where is Kurt?" Brittany asked.

"His parents decided to go to the parents committee trip in Costa Rica, so Finn and Kurt are gonna stay at Hogwarts," Mercedes told her.

"I see," Brittany said and turned to Rachel. "How are you and Finn?"

"We broke up," Rachel mumbled.

"What?"

"He admitted everything and he said sorry, but… I decided that I needed a break. At least, for now."

"I'm sorry, Rachel."

"Don't' be. I need this. I really need this," Rachel reached for Mercedes' hand. "Besides, Mercedes invited me and my dads to celebrate Christmas at her place."

"You can come, too, Britt," Mercedes offered.

"Thanks, Merci. But my relatives are coming over, so I guess I gotta hang out with Courtney most of time."

"Didn't you ask Santana and her mom to work there during holidays?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah. I guess I can sneak off to see her in the kitchen sometimes."

"Oh damn," Mercedes cursed and shook her head.

"Why?" Brittany looked between her two friends.

"I don't wanna imagine what will happen if Courtney and Santana meet," Mercedes widened her eyes.

"And if Courtney knows you're dating her," Rachel added.

"Look, you guys, Santana already promised me that she'll try to be nice if she runs into Court. It's gonna be fine," Brittany said and started to wonder if she was lying to herself.

"I don't know, Britt. Just prepare for the worst," Rachel did not help at all.

Brittany could only give her a worried smile and hoped everything would be okay.

* * *

Christmas had arrived. It was 7 in the morning, and her relatives, Santana and Maribel could arrive any time soon. Brittany defied the urge to crawl back under her blanket and got up. She barely finished getting dress when she heard a light knock on the door.

Brittany rushed to open it to the sight of Santana standing there with a cheeky grin and two hands behind her back.

She wished she could kiss her girlfriend right in the hallway, but she could only smiled back and opened the door wider to let her in.

Brittany locked the door just in case someone could interrupt them, and turned to face Santana.

"I've missed you."

"I've missed you, too, Britt-Britt."

"Where is your mom?"

"Chatting with your mom, so I came to see you."

The Latina now revealed a present box in her hand.

"Merry Christmas," Santana said softly.

"What's that?" Brittany asked.

"Why don't you find out?"

Brittany took the box from her girlfriend and unwrapped it as fast as she could. Inside the box lied a brand new phone. It looked just like Santana's. The only different was this one's color was white.

"Merlin! I didn't know I need this until now. Thank you, Santana," Brittany exclaimed.

"Anything for you, babe. Now we can call and text each other whenever we want."

Brittany pulled Santana into a kiss. It usually escalated quickly and passionately with them, but this time Santana pulled away after a few seconds.

"Wait," the black-haired girl said.

Brittany gave her a questioning look until Santana pulled out a small bouquet of mistletoe from the back of her jeans.

" _Wingardium Leviosa_ ," Santana gave it a spell. "Now we can kiss."

Santana was slowly leaning in when it was Brittany's turn to interrupt her.

"Wait."

"Hmm?"

"I have something for you, too."

The blonde rushed to her closet and brought out a black leather jacket. Santana was in awe when she saw it.

"I got it from the mall a few days ago. I thought it would look great on you," Brittany said shyly. "Wanna see if I was right?"

Brittany helped Santana putting on the jacket and ran her hands up and down the lapels when she was done.

"Thanks, Britt. I love it," Santana spoke while flashing a grin. "And I don't even need a mirror because I could tell how hot I look by the way you're drooling right now."

Brittany wiggled her eyebrows and replied. "You look smoking hot. And did I mention how much I've missed you yet?"

"Tell me again."

"I've missed my hot and adorable girlfriend."

Brittany pulled Santana closer by the lapels and brought their lips together. Santana's arms wrapped around her waist automatically. Their kiss went on for seem like forever until they heard a knock on the door followed by the sound of door knob twisting.

"Looks like whoever it is doesn't like to wait," Santana remarked.

"I think I know who," Brittany said, still not moving an inch.

"Pierce? I mean, Courtney?"

"Duh."

Santana was grabbing the mistletoe from the air when the door suddenly blasted open. Everything after that happened so fast. And before they knew it, Courtney Pierce was already in the room and pointing her wand at Santana.

"What are you trying to do to my cousin?! Are you hurting her?!" Courtney spoke with complete British accent, which Brittany would find it amusing if they were not in such a dire situation. "Britt, did she do something to you? I ran here as soon as your dad told me who came to visit you."

The blue eyed girl was quick to grab and lower her cousin's arm, and ready to lie like she had done several times.

"It's okay, Court. She's my fr-…," she stopped when her cousin's eyes trained to the mistletoe in Santana's hand.

"Tell me it's not what I think it is," Courtney's voice changed from panic to disbelief.

"Um… I… she…," Brittany was not sure how to start. "We…"

Courtney was waiting patiently for an explanation while looking between the two of them, but it did not seem to come.

"I'm her girlfriend," Santana said so quietly that they would not hear if they were not sinking so deep in the moment.

Brittany turned to look at Santana with everything she had. She knew how scary it was for her to do this.

Courtney exhaled through her nose, and it was not the sound of relief. "So it's you. Britt told me she was dating a girl," she turned to Brittany swiftly. "You didn't tell me it was _her_!"

"Because I knew you would react like this," Brittany did her best not to shout back. "And because she isn't ready to tell everyone yet… which I hope you won't do that."

"Of course, not. Who do you think I am?! I didn't out Adam even when he broke up with me, remember?! It's like you don't know me or trust me anymore!"

It seemed like Courtney could be mad at anything at this moment, and it made Brittany sad and exhausted all of sudden.

"Don't yell at her," Santana replied as soon as Courtney finished talking.

"Oh, like you really care about her without some evil purposes," Courtney said cynically.

The Latina crossed her arms and stepped closer to the girl in front of her. "What did you just say?"

Brittany held Santana back as fast as she could to stop what might happen. "Babe, can I talk to Courtney for a second?"

Courtney's scoff did not go unnoticed when she heard the word 'babe'.

"Only because I promised you I would be nice to her," Santana spoke while still glaring dangerously at Courtney. "I have to go help my mom in the kitchen anyway."

Santana kissed Brittany's cheek before leaving and earned another scoff from Courtney. Brittany knew she mostly did it to spite her cousin, but it still made her melt inside.

Brittany's eyes followed her girlfriend until she reached the door and turned around. "You need your door fixed, by the way."

Courtney's wand lifted up instantly. Brittany was afraid she was going to jinx Santana, but the girl only repaired the door without any words.

"Thanks," Brittany said once it was done.

"No problem. It was my fault anyway," Courtney shrugged.

"No, I mean, thank you for not being mad about me and Santana anymore."

"Oh, who said I've stopped being mad? I'm still _bloody_ mad, Brittany!"

"I'm sorry for not telling you."

"Fine. But why are you with her when I especially told you to stay away from her?"

"She's actually a great person if you really get to know her."

"It's hard to believe," Courtney mumbled under her breath and asked. "What about that rumour?"

As much as Brittany trusted in her cousin, this was not her truth to tell.

"It's not like you think, okay?" she continued. "I know you don't like her, but I want you to trust me, Court."

"You don't know how many times she jinxed me and our friends last year!"

 _It's because she wanted everyone to hate her. But I can't tell her that either._ Brittany thought.

"I know, actually. And you jinxed her back, too. It was pointless and we don't do that anymore. Well, some Pents and Whities still pull pranks on each other, but it's had reduced by 70 percents since…," Brittany started to ramble.

Courtney clucked her tongue and exhaled again. "I can see how much she cares about you."

"I know, right?" Brittany smiled. "I love her, Court."

"I'm gonna throw up," Courtney faked a gag sound. "But I trust you and your judgment. But…"

"But?"

"Can I mess with her for like a day? It's what a big sister would do to her sister's girlfriend or boyfriend. And then I'll back off."

"You're one week older than me," Brittany pointed out.

"So? The point is I wanna see if she's really good enough for you and if she'll keep her promise."

"You just wanna annoy her."

"Yeah, that, too," Courtney admitted. "Now, give me a hug, little lass."

Brittany did as she was asked and exclaimed with herself inside. _Oh, hell no._

* * *

Courtney, her parents and Brittany decided to go to the nearby park and went to see a movie that morning, while Santana was busy baking with her mom. Brittany was glad that their local trip separated her cousin from Santana at least for a while.

When the movie ended, Aunt Joanne and Uncle Theirry would like to go window shopping, so Courtney asked her parents to drop her and Brittany off at the hotel because they needed some 'catching up' time. Brittany knew better that Courtney was planning something.

Surprisingly, the older girl said she would visit her US Hogwarts friends and would not be back until the evening. Brittany took the opportunity to text Santana and asked her out to lunch without wasting any minute.

" _Santy, do you wanna have lunch together? :P Ask your mom to come with us. – B"_

Santana replied after a few minutes. _"Mom will have lunch here with Whitney and Pierce. Our moms won't stop talking to each other here. Pls save me. :((("_

Brittany chuckled after reading the message. She also loved the fact that Santana called her parents by their first name.

 _Brittany: "We'll go out then. Any place in mind?"_

 _Santana: "I know an awesome sushi restaurant. It's muggle's, though. So I'll treat my girl. ;)"_

 _Brittany: "You don't have to do that."_

 _Santana: "I insist. :)"_

 _Brittany: "Fine. But next time it's on me. I'm waiting in the lobby. :D"_

 _Santana: "On my way. ;)"_

Brittany turned off the screen of her phone and had just realized that this would be the first time they had a date in public. She knew they would not do anything that couples did yet, but it was exciting anyway.

Santana showed up with the new leather jacket in her hand and brought a smile to Brittany's face like she always did. Their expressions reflected each other until Santana's smile slowly faded away.

Santana's eyes shifted to something or someone behind her, so Brittany did not waste her time to turn around to look.

 _Of course, I should have known._ Brittany thought when she saw her cousin standing there with hands on her hips.

"Courtney, I thought you…"

"I changed my mind," Courtney said casually and added. "Where are we going?"

* * *

 **A/N: Please pray and give all the strength to Santana Lopez. ^_^ I love Courtney, though. Sometimes I imagine her as "Sure, Jan"/"Nice try, Jan" girl and laugh for 5 whole minutes.**

 **This chapter meant to cover everything that happens on Christmas, but it would be too long if I put everything in it. I hope to write the next chapter soon, but I don't wanna promise and end up giving you false hope. Please bear with me. ^_^**


	23. Christmas Chaos: Part 2

**Santana's POV**

The ride to the sushi place had to be one of the longest ride in Santana's life, or she felt like it. She planned to drive her mother's car in peace with Brittany in the passenger seat next to her, but everything changed when her old enemy decided to tag along and even called shotgun.

Courtney Pierce had annoyed Santana from the start. She was the girl who always stood out since the first year. She was good looking, always got good grades and popular. Santana had always secretly admired her for her talents and wondered if she would like her a lot better if she was not so self-aware and overconfident of her assets.

"Are we there yet?" Courtney asked for the third time since they got in the car.

"No," Santana gave her the least information as she could. "And asking won't make us get there any sooner, _Courtyard_."

"Britt, your girlfriend just called me names," Courtney said and turned to Brittany, who was sitting in the back.

Santana managed to reply to her before Brittany could speak. "It wasn't offensive. It's not like I called you a merperson with the lack of hair volume."

"See, Britt? She just did it again," Courtney pointed out.

Santana could see Brittany sigh via the rear mirror before the younger blonde replied. "It wasn't offensive." Santana turned to give Courtney a winning look when Brittany quickly added. "But Court's hair is perfect."

Courtney shot a glare back, but Santana's eyes were already at the rear mirror, looking at her girlfriend.

 _Jeez. It must be hard for Britt to be in the middle of all this mess._ Santana thought. _I'll try to be nice, then._

"So, how do you enjoy the UK, Pierce?" Santana tried to make a small talk.

"It's good. It's brilliant, actually," the girl next to her replied and nodded vigorously. "People really like me as per usual."

Santana fought the urge to roll her eyes and said. "Good for you. So, are you gonna stay here long?"

"Why'd you ask? Are you planning to do something when I'm gone?"

"Yeah. Like having lunch with my girlfriend."

"Aren't you on the way to have lunch with your girlfriend? She's literally sitting behind you."

"You know what I mean," Santana mumbled. "And I'm asking politely."

"And I'm telling you _politely_ that your date is gonna be postponed forever because I'm having every meal with Britt," Courtney spoke without pausing.

"Actually, Court is gonna be here only three days," Brittany came to rescue.

Courtney turned to widen her eyes at Brittany, and Santana did her best to suppress her laugh.

The older blonde girl recovered quickly. "Anyway, Lopez, when you're done with your job today, you can go home, and don't wait for us. We're having _family_ dinner."

"What a surprise," Santana said sarcastically. "You're here. Your parents are here. It's Christmas, so of course, you're having family dinner."

"I was thinking," Brittany chimed in. "Why don't you and your mom join us? I mean, if my mom hasn't invited your mom yet."

"I don't know, Britt. The _Snix_ in me wants to piss _Courtesy_ off, but I don't wanna invade your family time."

Brittany continued. "But you should stay the night, so you don't have to wake up early tomorrow. We have a few vacant rooms."

Brittany looked at her via the rear mirror and gave her a knowing smile.

 _You mean I can stay in your room?_ Santana thought and smirked. "Okay. I'm staying."

She knew she did not have a telepathic power like powerful witches and wizards, but she was sure Brittany knew what she was thinking.

Courtney immediately brought them back to reality. "You call your bad side 'Snix'? That's so lame," she spat. "And stop calling me those words. I have a name, you know?"

"I thought it was nice… because of your fake proper British accent and all that," Santana explained and waved her hand.

"Did you just call me fake?" Courtney growled in her throat.

Brittany's arm suddenly shot up between them and pointed forward. Santana was confused at first, until the blonde asked her. "Is that the restaurant?"

"Yes," Santana turned to give her a smile because she just saved her again. "Yes, it is."

She parked and they got out of the car quietly. Santana led them to the door and held it for both girls. She was glad she had a chance to roll eyes at Courtney's back once they were inside. The restaurant was oddly quiet. Santana figured it was because it was barely noon yet.

A waiter led them to a table and Brittany slid on the plushed bench to the farthest side. Courtney soon followed her. She turned to make a face to mock Santana, but the Latina already expected her to sit next to Brittany before they even got in her car. In strangers' eyes, Courtney would look a little too enthusiastic.

"She's obsessed with her cousin," Santana muttered to the waiter.

"Cousins? I thought they were twins," the waiter boy replied.

"Trust me. They're _very, very_ different," Santana made sure Courtney heard it and sat down on the opposite side.

They did not take much time to look through the menu. Courtney ended up ordering four plates of sushi and seaweed, which was too much for the three of them to eat, but Santana let her. She had to be patience for Brittany, and at least her girlfriend nudged her feet with her own occasionally without her cousin knowing.

They were sipping on their tea when an owl knocked on the restaurant's glass door with its beak. A waiter opened the door to let it flew in.

The owl landed in front of Courtney and stood idly. The blonde took the paper from its leg and read. She suddenly got up after she finished.

"What's wrong?" Brittany asked her.

"Oh, nothing," Courtney waved her hand. "Sugar just wants to hang. Her hot muggle yoga class starts tomorrow, so I have to see her today."

"You can just call it hot yoga," Santana corrected her.

"Whatever," Courtney retorted back. "By the way, I gotta go. It's your lucky day, Lopez."

 _But why does she look so happy?_

"See you at dinner, Court," Brittany said. "Say hi to Sugar for us."

"See you," Courtney replied. "I'll rent some muggle movies for our two-night sleepovers."

 _I knew it._ Santana said to herself.

"What? We didn't…," Brittany started, but the other blonde girl was already walking to the front of the place.

"You didn't have any plan for a sleepover, did you?" Santana asked and sighed.

"I'm sorry for all of this, Santana," Brittany and reached for her hand.

Santana felt like it had been so long since their hands touched. She unconsciously rubbed her thumb on Brittany's hand, and did not let go when she moved to sit next to Brittany.

"It's not your fault," Santana said softly. "Besides, I can take this. She thinks she can piss me off, but everyone from Lima Heights is immune to all kind of insults."

"But she ordered too much."

"I think we both know how much you eat for a meal, Britt-Britt."

"You've been watching me eating at Hogwarts a lot?"

Santana quirked her eyebrow playfully and said. "You always finish vegetables first and save the meat for the last. And you drink a lot of water."

Brittany smiled and looked at her through her eyelashes. It was the look that made Santana's heart flutter. She knew she would have kissed her at this moment if they were not in public. But all she could do now was holding her gaze and smile back.

Courtney's laugh brought their gaze to the door. She was talking and giggling with the waiter boy. They seemed to be flirting.

"I thought she left," Santana mumbled.

Courtney turned to wave at them once and truly left this time.

"So, this ended up being our date after all," Brittany said as soon as the door closed.

"Umm-hmm," Santana hummed and rested her head on Brittany's shoulder.

It did not last long because ten or so customers walked in, and Santana abruptly sat up straight. She noticed the hurtful look on Brittany's face, but the blonde's expression quickly turned back to normal.

Santana hated this. She was grateful and loved Brittany so much for giving her all the time she needed, but she hated hurting her.

Her hand found Brittany's one that was resting between them on the bench. She intertwined their fingers in hoping to convey her feelings as much as she could in the now crowded restaurant.

Brittany smiled at her and squeezed her hand. They did not let go until the food came and their hands were needed.

"Are you a wasabi girl?" Santana asked.

"Not really. It makes me cough through my nose," Brittany replied. "Are you?"

"I totally am."

Brittany ended up eating most of the sushi, and Santana enjoyed looking at her talking with her mouth full. It seemed to be a good day for Santana until the bill came.

"105.87 dollars? Is that a bit much for what we ordered?" Santana asked curiously.

"Oh, there are additional orders for delivery from your friend who left, ma'am," the waiter boy explained. "You can see at the end of the receipt."

 _Damn it. What a bitch._

"This is not okay," Brittany said after looking on the piece of paper in front of them. "She can't just do this to you."

Santana was too tired to argue with the waiter or say anything at all, so she just grimaced and gave him her credit card. The boy rushed to the cash register without any more words.

"I'll talk to her, Santana," Brittany spoke again.

"No, it's fine. Really," Santana confirmed with her. "I just hope she stops doing these things already."

"She said she wanted to make sure you keep your promise, but this is too far."

"So this is like a test?" Santana asked and added. "You know what? Now I'm more than fine, because I'm doing this for you."

"Seriously, I'm gonna kick her ass the next time I see her," Brittany said determinedly.

"Will I fail the test if I cheer you on?"

"You don't have to prove anything, Santy."

 _Santy._ The last time Brittany called her this was when they made love for the first time. A familiar sensation crept to her lower stomach, and she really wished Brittany did not have a plan tonight.

They walked back to the car wordlessly after Santana got her card back. She turned to Brittany after closing the door.

"I had a good time today even though I lost my 50 bucks to _Courthouse_."

"I'm really sorry about-…"

Santana cut her off with a soft but firm kiss. "Shhh. Don't be."

"We shouldn't kiss here where people can see us. Unless your car can turn the windshield and windows to…"

Santana pulled her girlfriend into another kiss. Her free hand fumbled on various buttons next to the dashboard and pushed on one skillfully. She could feel the environment getting darker despite her eyes closed.

She could feel the wetness of Brittany's tongue against her upper lip, so she granted her access instantly. Their tongues met at the same time Brittany's hand ran between her jeans-clad thighs. Santana pulled away only to gasp when the blonde palmed her core.

Santana attacked back by latching her lips onto Brittany's neck. She made sure to go gentle so she would not leave any mark after. Her left hand massaged on Brittany's breast repeatedly.

"Santy, I wanna… eat you out," Brittany whispered in her ear. "Can I?"

Santana nodded eagerly. She was trying to figure out a way to manage it in such a small car until her phone rang.

 _Seriously?_ Santana thought while taking out her phone from her pocket. The display showed the word 'Mama' on it.

"Hey Mom. What's… unnnh… what's up?" Santana greeted at the same time Brittany decided to nibble on her earlobe.

"Yes, I'm okay," Santana continued as calmly as she could. "Britt is… here, t-too."

"Hi, Maribel," Brittany said and turned her attention back to Santana's ear.

"I'm not a lazy ass, mom. We're heading back now, jeez."

Santana hung up and turned to give Brittany an apologetic look.

"I guess my dessert is officially cancelled?" Brittany asked jokingly.

"Rain check?"

"Rain check," Brittany agreed. "But I kinda wanna touch myself right now."

Santana's eyes widened at the words. "Don't… even think about it."

Brittany smiled coyly and bit her lip. She ran her hand playfully from the top of her own stomach down to the waist of her jeans. Santana had to swat her arm when she saw her fingers disappear behind the denim.

"Seriously, don't distract me when I drive," Santana said and added. "I don't wanna get us into an accident. I don't want you to get hurt."

Santana found herself being protective of the people she loved since the day Maxine was attacked. It became her nature to be careful in every step of her life when it involved people who mattered to her.

Brittany nodded understandingly. "Okay," she shot both of her hands up. "No touching."

Brittany even buckled up her seat belt and crossed her arms. The sight brought a smile to Santana's lips.

They drove up for a while, and Santana turned to look at her girlfriend occasionally. It was almost frustrating that every time she did that, Brittany was staring at her intensely. Santana knew at that moment that the ride back would feel as long as the first one.

"Quit it, Britt," Santana said when they were stuck in traffic.

"What? I'm not doing anything," Brittany replied unapologetically. "Look. I'm crossing my arms."

"You're looking at me like a stranded dog just found a bone in a desert."

"Well, that's a way to describe it."

"Stop it. It's distracting."

"Then don't look at me. Keep your eyes on the road," Brittany said and shrugged.

"Fine."

But Santana kept failing. She stole a glance at Brittany whenever she had a chance, which obviously did not go unnoticed because Brittany was laughing at her.

They repeated the same action over and over again until they reached the hotel. Santana barely parked and turned off the engine when Brittany grabbed her face and kissed her. It was a kiss that left her breathless, emotionally and literally.

"I'm gonna have to change my panties before going back to the kitchen," Santana mumbled and searched through her car.

It was a habit of her family to have spare clothes around.

"And I'm gonna have to take a cold shower," Brittany replied.

They walked together to the lobby with a duffel bag in Santana's hand. It seemed like Courtney had not come back, but Brittany's parents were here with a big fat cat with a grumpy face lying lazily at their feet.

"Hey girls," Pierce Pierce said loudly. "And merry Christmas, Brittany! He's your new pet!"

The blonde ran to scoop the cat in her arms excitedly. He looked so light judging from the way Brittany was carrying him with ease.

After that Pierce introduced several guests to his wife and daughter, and Santana felt like it was her cue to leave, but not before Whitney invited her to join them for dinner. She assured with Santana that it was perfectly okay and she would not be invading at all, not to mention her mother already said yes. Santana felt like it would be rude to refuse her at this point.

"Then I'm happy to join you," Santana said and smiled. "Thank you, Whitney."

Santana wondered if she was making a mistake.

 _What if Courtney does something to embarrass me?_

More and more bad thoughts popped up in her head while she was walking to the room Whitney reserved for her and her mother.

 _What if she told her parents every time I jinxed her in the past and they hate me?_

Santana took a deep breath and decided that no matter what, their opinions would not matter as long as she and the people she loved knew who she truly was.

 _This is gonna be hella awkward, though._

* * *

Sugar and her family joined them in the last minute, but the dinner went surprisingly smoothly. Courtney did not make a single comment to taunt Santana at all, so she figured that Brittany already had a talk with her. Thierry and Joanne, Courtney's parents, were also amazingly nice and friendly to her and her mother. The only thing that made Santana unhappy was when either herself or Brittany introduced themselves as each other's friend. She noticed the pain on Brittany's face again as much as the blonde was trying her best to hide it.

They had ice-cream cakes that Santana and Maribel made for dessert. Everyone loved it and kept complimenting her and her mom, except Courtney who gave her praise to only Maribel. Brittany beamed proudly at Santana, and Santana smiled back despite the fact that Courtney was rolling her eyes next to Brittany.

Courtney dragged Brittany back to her room as soon as the dinner was over and Sugar left. Santana had no choice but to go back to her room as well.

She took a shower, got in bed and closed her eyes.

 _Only three days. I can take it._

* * *

 **Brittany's POV**

"What are you doing here, Lopez? It's 5 AM!" Courtney's voice came from far away.

Brittany thought it was a part of her dream until she heard Santana's voice.

"Let me talk to her. We're leaving, for God's sake."

"She's sleeping," Courtney replied and lowered her voice. "Tell me what's going on."

Brittany sat up abruptly and asked. "You're leaving?"

"Yes," Santana said and brushed pass her cousin into the room. "Abuela just called. Kurt's dad had a heart attack, so their Costa Rica trip was cancelled."

"Merlin's beard, is he okay?" Courtney asked.

"Yes, he's in St. Mungo's now," Santana replied without turning to her. "Some people came back here. My grandma and some others stayed, and she wants me and my mom to go there right now and keep her company."

"Oh," Brittany muttered.

It was unfortunate that her holiday plan with Santana was ruined, but it was understandable.

Santana moved to sit on her bed now.

"I'm sorry we have to ditch the job here," the Latina said.

"It's okay. I think we can manage," Brittany said. "But… when will I see you again?"

"Probably when school starts again," Santana said and pouted.

Brittany scooted forward to be closer to her girlfriend. "That's too long."

"I'm gonna go and find something to do because apparently, I don't exist," Courtney mumbled and left the room.

Brittany felt guilty for forgetting that she was there for a while, but she knew Courtney did not really mind.

"I'm sorry we can't have New Year's Kiss this year," Santana continued like Courtney did not interrupt them.

"We can have it now," Brittany said and kissed her passionately.

Their forehead rested against each other's when the kiss ended and Santana's hand found hers.

"Britt, I've been thinking," Santana started.

"Yeah?"

"I saw how sad you looked when we told everyone we were just friends," Santana said every word cautiously. "I think… I'm ready to tell people about us, starting from my parents."

"Hey," Brittany said softly and stroked her cheek. "Don't do it just for me."

"No, I'm doing it for me, too," Santana replied firmly. "I just realized that the only opinions that matter are mine and people I love's."

Brittany could not help but to kiss her again.

"Then let's do it," Brittany grinned. "My parents are gonna be so happy for us. But they're probably sleeping now, though."

"You can tell them later. But my mom is waiting in the lobby now, so."

"Merlin's pants! It's really happening," Brittany had to make sure.

"It is," Santana assured with her. "Shall we, m'lady?"

Santana offered her an arm and Brittany gladly took it. They walked hand in hand to the lobby. Maribel was talking to Courtney, but she stopped as soon as she saw them.

"Mama, I have something to tell you," Santana said and rubbed on Brittany's hand.

"Go on, miha," Maribel responded, but from her expression, it seemed like she already knew.

"Brittany is my girlfriend. We've been together for a while now," Santana continued with her voice shaking.

The woman just stood up with tears in her eyes. She pulled them into a hug without any word. She was so tiny that her face was burying between their shoulders.

"I'm sorry you'll have to endure their sickly sweetness from now on, Mrs. Lopez," Courtney muttered under her breath.

"I'm glad you told me, Santana," Maribel ignored her and said to her daughter. She soon turned to Brittany. "And you, Brittany. You're such a nice girl! Santana is so lucky."

"No, I'm the lucky one, Maribel," Brittany replied humbly.

Santana's mother kissed both of their cheeks and hugged Santana again. Santana's eyes closed while returning the hug, and Brittany had never seen her so happy.

Maribel checked on her clock as soon as she pulled away.

"We have to go now, mija."

She hugged Courtney. And then, she hugged Brittany a little longer.

"Happy holidays, Mrs. Lopez," Courtney said and reluctantly added. "Santana."

"Happy holidays, Maribel," Brittany followed suit.

"Courtney, Brittany, thank you for having us. My husband will come to pick up our car. And if you guys visit Burt, give him my best. And Santana, don't stay to say goodbye too long," Maribel said and walked into the fireplace. "Ramos Hotel, Costa Rica!" she disappeared after throwing Floo powder on the floor.

Brittany walked with Santana to the area in front of the fireplace, while Courtney just flopped on the first sofa she could find.

"I'm gonna miss you so much," Santana embraced her.

"Me too."

Santana pulled away from the hug only to kiss her long and deeply. She whispered faintly against her lips after the kiss ended. " _Te amo._ "

 _What?_

Before Brittany could ask her the meaning of the words, Santana was already in the fireplace. The Latina looked hopelessly flustered.

Brittany found herself shouting the question at the same time Santana said her destination and threw the powder on the floor. "What does it mean, Santana?"

"It means I…," Santana's words were muffled by the fire and she was gone.

* * *

 **A/N: Santana is a shy smol bean. :3**

 **I didn't mean it to be this long. o_O So today is your lucky day, readers. Feel free to review and ask me anything. :)**

 **EDIT to reply to the guest: Thanks for your comment. Abuela just needs some company since her trip with the committee was cancelled. Like everyone went their separate way. Hope that makes sense. ^_^**


	24. The Longest Two Weeks Ever

_"Te Amo."_

Santana's faint whisper was still playing in Brittany's head after she was gone.

The blonde's brain quickly worked on what the words could mean. And judging from how hard Santana was blushing, they could only mean one thing. They were the words Brittany longed to hear for a while now.

Brittany did not know how long she stood there until her cousin got her attention.

"Earth to Brittany!"

"Huh?" the younger girl said after being caught off guard.

"What was that about?"

"Oh. Santana just said something."

"Santana always says something."

"Court," Brittany ignored her retort. "What does 'Te Amo' means?"

Instead of giving her the answer, Courtney asked loudly. "She said that?!"

"Yeah. Now, tell me."

"You need to learn Spanish, Britts," the older girl continued to tease relentlessly.

"Whatever," Brittany tried her best to sound unbothered. "I think I know what it means anyway. I just need a confirmation from you."

"You should ask her," Courtney replied and smirked.

"I thought you were done torturing us," Brittany said with a pout.

The other girl sighed and got off the sofa she was sitting on. She walked to Brittany and placed both of her hands on top of her shoulders.

"It was fun torturing you, but I'm not telling you because you should hear the English version for the first time from your whipped girlfriend. It's more romantic that way, don't you think?"

That was all the confirmation Brittany needed.

"So she really said she loved me then?"

"I don't know," Courtney sounded the least convincing. "Just call and ask her."

It was still early and Santana might need time to settle in at her hotel, so Brittany made a plan to call her later in the day.

"I will," Brittany said.

"Now let me have a long uninterrupted nap," Courtney replied and made her way to their shared bedroom.

Brittany followed her. There was another thing on her mind that she mentioned when they reached the door.

"Hey Court," Brittany said and added only when her cousin turned to her. "Do you wanna visit Kurt's dad with me later today?"

"Sure," Courtney agreed. "I was gonna ask you, too. But let's get some sleep now, okay?"

Brittany nodded, but she knew with many things going on in her mind, she would be awake until sunrise and beyond.

* * *

St. Mungo's Hospital was bigger than Brittany could remember. She was here the last time when she was sick with a flu when she was eight-year-old. She also had been to St. Mungo's in England to visit her family friends a few times.

The hospital here seemed to be bigger and more crowded than the one in London. It was hard to find a person who smiled or looked happy especially on the floor Kurt's father resided in, where most patients were in critical condition.

They were informed that Burt Hummel had pulled through and regained his consciousness, but it did not make Brittany less worry about him and his family.

Unfortunately, the nurse only allowed Burt's family members to visit, but Brittany was grateful enough to be able to meet Kurt and Finn, who came out of the room to see her and Courtney.

"I'm glad he's okay," the blonde said after hugging Kurt.

"He's not," Finn said almost sarcastically. "It can happen again any time."

Brittany was surprised by his words, but she figured it was because he was still upset about Rachel, and it did not help when his step-dad just had a heart attack. She also noticed that he was looking at her strangely just like the day after their quidditch match. She determined to talk to him later.

Kurt shot him a dagger look and said. "Dad's going to be fine. We just have to make sure he eats healthy and exercises from now on."

" _You_ need to make sure he does that," Finn replied coldly. "He's your dad."

The taller boy stormed off, and Brittany considered if she or someone should follow him. It was not before a familiar voice spoke up in British accent.

"Hello, my fellow Whities and a lovely Hufflepuff."

It was Adam Crawford. He dressed in white from head to toe. It went without saying that he worked here.

"Adam!" Courtney exclaimed and hugged him.

Brittany loved that her cousin and her senior Prefect were still good friends after what happened. She remembered when Courtney showed up at her room in London a year ago unannounced, crying after Adam broke up with her. Despite being mad and sad, it did not take long for Courtney to come to understand that Adam needed to be true to himself, and Brittany admired her for that.

"So, you work here," Brittany greeted.

"I'm merely an intern," Adam replied humbly.

"Adam has been a good help," Kurt said and smiled slightly. "He just gave me a list of healthy dishes Carole and I can cook for my dad."

"I'm happy to be of service," Adam said and looked around. He asked. "Where is Finn?"

"He just… needs some time to cool down," Kurt said and asked. "Why?"

"Carole is worried about him and wants to see him," Adam answered.

"I'll go get him," Kurt said and started to walk away when Brittany grabbed his shoulder.

"I'll do it. I have to talk to him about something."

Brittany found Finn in a quiet hallway. He sat with an opened bag of chips in his hand, but he was not eating. He stood up when he saw Brittany approaching him.

"Leave me alone, Britt."

"We're worried about you. Your mom is looking for you," Brittany said concernedly.

"You're worried about me? That's funny."

"What's going on?" Brittany asked. "Are you mad at me or something?"

"Tell me why I shouldn't be."

Brittany wondered if he knew about when she let Santana catch the snitch, but she was not sure. She wanted to tell the truth, but she did not trust Finn enough to tell him about her relationship with Santana.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Brittany lied and already regretted it.

"Come on, Brittany. My step-dad almost died and Rachel broke up with me. I don't wanna deal with you lying to me, too."

He sounded angry and sad at the same time, so Brittany tried to be honest as much as she could.

"I'll tell you everything one day, but not today, okay?"

She did not expect Finn to get angrier, but he did.

"I know you let Santana catch the snitch," Finn spoke loudly. "And I saw you kissed her."

Brittany looked around cautiously. There were only a few people around them who turned to the sound, and she did not know any of them. Yet, she felt unsafe to talk about this topic around them.

The girl led her friend to the end of the hallway and replied.

"Have you told anyone about this?"

"No," Finn's voice softened. It was likely because he noticed how terrified Brittany sounded. "I was hoping you would tell me first, and then we can tell Headmaster Figgins together."

"I would. I really would," Brittany explained. "But I just can't out Santana, you know?"

Finn took time to think and nodded. "I understand."

"I'm sorry," Brittany said sincerely. "I promise I'll never do it again. And I'll tell Headmaster Figgins as soon as Santana comes out."

"I appreciate it," Finn nodded again. He added. "And I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have yelled at you."

Brittany hugged him.

"Thank you, Finn."

* * *

Brittany and Courtney came back to the hotel after having lunch with their friends. It was good to know that Finn understood her, and dealt about Burt's condition with Kurt as a family. She had yet to speak to Santana about her love confession and about the quidditch match.

The waiting tone rang a few times and stopped when she called her. Brittany tried again and it gave the same result.

She did not waste her time to text.

 _Brittany: "Hey, babe. Everything's okay over there?"_

Santana replied instantly.

 _Santana: "Sorry. I'll call you back."_

Brittany wished they could talk right now, but she guessed Santana had her reasons.

It was not until an hour later when her phone rang during her muggle musical movie marathon with Courtney.

Brittany grabbed her phone from the nightstand and picked up Santana's call right away.

"Heyyy," she drawled her voice longer than she meant to.

"Hey, Britt-Britt."

They were in the same room only this morning, but Brittany felt like she had not heard her voice for a year. She also could hear the sound of the wind.

"How's it going there?" Brittany asked her girlfriend.

"The usual. Abuela is still sassy and won't leave me alone, but nothing I can't handle," Santana said. "She's taking a nap now, so I sneaked off to the beach."

"I heard the wind," Brittany said and asked playfully. "How are the girls over there?"

"They're hot. Can you believe most of them have abs?"

"Oh, yeah?"

Brittany found herself getting a little jealous and wondered if she played herself by asking Santana that question.

"Yeah, they're super hot," Santana teased before adding. "But they're not my type."

"What's your type?" Brittany asked and rolled back on her bed.

She had just realized that Courtney was shamelessly listening to every word, but she did not mind. The movie was already on pause.

"I like blondes with blue eyes. Their names have to be Brittany, and their last names have to be Pierce," Santana described and went on. "They should be a Prefect and a mean Seeker. Bonus, if they transferred from another school and eat a lot."

Brittany found her face turning hotter at every word Santana said.

"That's specific," Brittany finally managed to speak. "My type is you, too."

Courtney made a gag sound and rolled her eyes.

"She's still there?" Santana asked with a sudden change in her tone.

"Yeah, Court is here," Brittany replied. "We're watching _Grease_."

Before Santana could say anything, Courtney took the phone from Brittany's hand. The younger girl was going to protest, but Courtney quickly tapped on the 'FaceTime' button and Santana's face showed up.

Courtney shoved the phone back in Brittany's hand and said. "Get to the point already. I wanna finish this movie."

Brittany caught herself staring at her girlfriend as soon as she looked at the screen. Santana was in a white v-neck t-shirt. It helped her smooth skin stand out even more. She looked gorgeous in sunlight with her hair wavered by the wind.

Santana smirked at her knowingly and asked. "What is she talking about?"

Brittany quickly left the room to the balcony and closed the door behind her.

"The thing you said to me before you left."

Santana suddenly got nervous and swallowed. "Oh. The thing."

"I kinda figured out what it means," Brittany continued. "I just wanna hear you say it."

Santana looked down shyly and looked back up.

"I'll tell you when we meet again, okay?"

"That's like eight days away," Brittany pointed out.

"You don't have to wait that long," Santana replied. "I'll go to your hotel when I can."

"Nah, it's fine," Brittany made up her mind. "You should be with your family."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Speaking of," Santana said. "I'll tell abuela about us tonight… or some other day while we're here."

"Take your time, sweetie," Brittany gave her the best support. "You don't even have to tell her. I know how scary she is."

"No, I want to tell her," Santana said determinedly.

"I hope it goes well," Brittany said. "Tell me later how it goes."

"I will."

"Speaking of," Brittany started. "Finn knows about us and the whole quidditch thing."

"Shit!" Santana cursed.

"Don't worry. He won't tell anyone," Brittany comforted her. "He just wanted me to tell Headmaster Figgins whenever you're ready to come out, so I won't out you when I tell him."

"I'm sorry you have to do that, Britt."

"It was my fault and I've been feeling guilty about it anyway."

"My girl is always so gallant," Santana gave her an encouraging smile and said. "How… should we come out, though?"

Brittany hummed and got lost in her thought.

"I'll throw you a love letter across the Great Hall."

"That's cute," Santana giggled.

"Or I'll send Charity to sing you a love song."

"That's even cuter," Santana said and added. "I gotta go. Mom is calling."

"Okay. Talk later," Brittany replied. "Love you."

"Love you, too."

Brittany's heart was beating fast at the words.

"Santana?"

"Yeah?"

"You just said it."

"Oh, crap," Santana's whole head turned red. She regained her control and spoke again. "I still wanna tell you again when we meet, though."

"I'm looking forward to it," Brittany said and grinned widely.

"Bye, babe."

"Bye," Brittany said at the same time an owl landed on the rail of her balcony.

She made sure Santana hung up and tucked her phone in her back pocket.

The owl had a letter in his beak. She knew right away by the look of it that the letter came from Hogwarts.

Brittany tore the side of it and pulled the paper out. She remembered it was Headmaster Figgins' handwriting.

 _Dear Miss Brittany Susan Pierce,_

 _Due to an anonymous student has reported to me earlier today_

 _that you purposefully let Miss Lopez, the Seeker of rival House,_

 _catch the snitch, which resulted in Pentagon's victory_

 _in the most recent match with the reason influenced_

 _by the fact that you and Miss Lopez are romantically involved._

 _I have investigated the matter and it was proved to be true._

 _Though, I understand that love has big influence on our lives,_

 _especially on brilliant young minds as yours_

 _and the rest of the students of Hogwarts', with my heavy heart,_

 _I hereby issue a two-week suspension as a punishment._

 _The rule of suspension is, you are not allowed_

 _to be in contact with any student from USA Hogwarts_

 _whether by wizard's or muggle's methods of communication._

 _The period of suspension starts immediately_

 _and ends on January 9 in the following year._

 _Please be reminded that any violation of the rule may result_

 _in extended period of suspension or expulsion._

 _\- Sumeth Figgins_

 _Headmaster of USA Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

Brittany's heart dropped to the floor after she finished reading. The first thing she did was reaching for her phone with her hand shaking.

She pushed on a button only to find the screen stay pitch black.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for disappearing again. I haven't been in a mood lately. You just need that one moment you want to write and it will go non-stop like today, you know? :) And sorry for putting Brittana through troubles again, but Brittany threw the game and she had to deal with the consequences. ^_^ At least I won't kill any characters like those fuckers do on TV shows.**

 **Before anyone can review with (understandably) anger, I want to SPOIL you that the person who told Headmaster Figgins [SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS] wasn't Finn. So don't hate on him, okay?**

 **However, yesterday was a very hard day for LGBT members (me, included) and those who were effected. My heart is with those we've lost and with you, your friends and your family. Please stay strong and know that we have each other.**


	25. The Message

**Brittany's POV**

Brittany attempted to read the letter again to make sure that she understood everything correctly, but all she could do was staring blankly on the piece of paper in her hand.

After a long minute, she came back inside her room.

"Britt, what's wrong? You look like you've seen Voldemort," Courtney asked right away.

"It's… I… Headmaster… it's…," Brittany had a hard time to reply properly.

It took a few seconds for her cousin to get up from the bed and took the letter from her hand, and Brittany felt worse when Courtney mumbled ' _Holy shite_ ', ' _Bloody hell_ ' or ' _Jesus Christ_ ' while she was reading.

"Court, you're not helping," Brittany groaned.

"Sorry," Courtney said and tried to comfort her. "I got suspended like this before. It's not that bad, Britt."

"It's bad," Brittany argued and waved the phone in her hand. "I can't use it now."

The older girl took the phone from her hand instantly and turned it on with ease.

She explained. "That's because you thought of calling Santana or your friends here, right?"

Brittany nodded, so the other girl continued. "It'll work if you call anyone else that doesn't go to US Hogwarts."

"Oh," Brittany acknowledged the information. "So what happens if I write?"

"Owls just won't fly away."

"What if I use the Floo Network?"

"Trust me. You don't wanna do that," Courtney said firmly. "I tried to Floo to Sugar's house once when I was suspended, and I ended up getting stuck in the system for ten whole minutes before I got kicked out back here. There was nothing but green in my eyes, Britt."

"Merlin."

"And then I got suspended one more week after trying to break the rule for the third time."

Brittany sighed and quickly came up with a solution.

"You can text them and deliver my messages, right?"

"Ugh," Courtney whined, which confirmed that Brittany was right. "I can do that from my phone, but I'm not sexting Santana for you."

"No sexting," Brittany assured her. "Just text Santana and Rachel to let them know I'm suspended for throwing the quidditch match, and I'll see them two weeks from now."

"What about your other besties?"

"They don't have any phones, so I guess Rachel will tell them."

"I see," Courtney said and tapped on her phone skillfully.

"And tell Rachel I'm sorry that I threw the match, and I'm sorry that I didn't tell her and our friends about it."

"All right. Done," the older girl did so and asked. "So what's gonna happen when I go back to England?"

"I may need your help to talk to them, but I promise I won't ask too often."

"Oh, you poor sweet Brittany," Courtney suddenly sounded twenty years older than her actual age. "You know I'll do anything for you."

Brittany was going to hug her cousin when Courtney's phone made a beep sound.

The green-eyed girl quickly checked on her phone and said. "Okay. Rachel wants you to take a deep breath and said, well, this is long: _'It's going to be okay, Brittany. Don't panic. However, we can't say that we're not upset about what you did, but you're suspended and it must be hard for you already. You're one of our best friends and we can only offer you forgiveness. We'll see you when you're back, and we will definitely take notes in class so you can see them later. Love, Rachel and Mercedes. :)'_. Aw, they're so sweet."

The message made Brittany feel so grateful for such great friends like them and made her day a lot better. Santana had not replied the message, but Brittany knew she was with her family. She knew Santana was going to do one of the bravest things she would do in her life, and she hoped her day would be okay, too.

* * *

 **1 week later**

 **Santana's POV**

She did it. She finally did it.

That night at the hotel, they ordered in and had dinner in the living room section. Her mother knew her cue to leave, and Santana was left facing her grandmother at the table.

She had practiced what to say so many times, but it was still nerve-wracking to do it. She started by saying she liked girls and prepared for abuela's reaction that never came. So she continued.

She let her know that she was telling her about who she was because she loved her. She let her know she had a girlfriend whom she loved, and how happy she was right now.

It took all the courage in her bones to look at her grandmother the whole time when she was speaking, but it went in vain when the old lady's eyes were at everywhere but her.

There was a long silence that felt too long. When Santana asked her to say something, she received a disgusted look, one that she never expected from a family member.

It had been a week since that night, but Santana still remembered every word abuela said afterwards.

" _I'm disappointed in you, Santana. It's selfish of you to make me feel uncomfortable by your sin. I want you to leave here tomorrow and I never want to see you again."_

Without any more words, the lady left to her room with a loud bang when she closed the door.

Santana sat there and her body started to shake uncontrollably. After a while, she reached for her phone only to found out that Brittany was suspended. Tears started to form in her eyes when her mother came back into the room.

"It's okay, mija. I'm here. I love you," her mother said.

She put her arms around Santana, and the girl's crying turned into a sob.

Her mother reminded her that she was loved. She had her mother, Brittany and her friends by her side, but it was still so hard that one of the people she loved the most pushed her away.

She let Brittany know what happened by texting Courtney, but did not say how she felt to spare her the worry and because she would rather talk to her girlfriend alone.

Brittany knew anyway and replied her with a long sweet message with various emoticons, which brought a smile to Santana's face when she thought it was not possible.

A few messages from Brittany during the week brightened up her days gradually, but she knew a huge challenge was waiting for her at school.

As expected, everybody already knew what happened along with the fact that she was dating Brittany. Sneaky glances and whispers from students from both Houses annoyed her, but they did not bother her as much as when her housemates called her a _betrayer_ for dating someone from the rival House, or when they congratulated her for manipulating Brittany to throw the game for her.

"I thought you were a lezzie when you were making out with Blondie at Yule Ball. I didn't know it was your plan all along. Good job, Cap," Dave Karofsky said and offered her a high-five at their dining table, which was not returned. "Can you trick her to do the same for three more matches?"

"I didn't _trick_ her to do anything, Dave," Santana muttered under her breath.

"So you're really a lezzie, then," Karofsky replied and turned to Azimio. "Dude, you heard that?"

Azimio whistled in return like she was not there.

If it were a different situation, Santana would be happy to come up with a harsh response, but right now she was just too tired.

It was Quinn who came to her rescue.

"Shut up and leave her alone," the blonde said.

Santana gave her teammates a glare to make sure they did as Quinn said. She, then, turned her face away from them and was distracted by Finn Hudson, who was looking at her from across the hall. He looked away as soon as he saw her returning the gaze.

She learned from Brittany that the boy knew everything. But Brittany vouched for him that he was not the one who told Headmaster Figgins, so Santana tried her best not to blame him for outing her.

 _One more. One more asshole talking to me and I swear I'll walk right there._ Santana told herself.

It did not take long until Josh Coleman, a fifth year student from her House, walked by and offered to _cure_ her.

Santana got up right away and made a straight line to where Finn was sitting. Quinn was hot on her trail.

The boy lifted his hands up defensively and spoke.

"I swear I didn't…"

Santana cut him off. "Explain."

"I knew you guys were dating and she threw the game for you. Then, I confronted her about it. But I promised not to tell Headmaster yet because we didn't wanna out you."

"But you did out me anyway," Santana argued. "And you got my girlfriend suspended!"

She had just realized she called Brittany her girlfriend for the first time in public, and it actually felt good. But she was not going to thank Finn or anyone for making her week a living hell.

Before Finn could reply, Kurt chimed in.

"I'm sorry everyone is gossiping or making fun of you, Santana. I know how hard it is," he continued. "And I love Brittany. But to be fair, she cheated and she has to deal with the consequence."

"He has a point," Quinn spoke for the first time since she arrived at the White House tables.

Santana turned swiftly to look at her. "I thought you were here to support me."

"I am. I just shot death stares to anyone who might say the wrong things to you on the way over here. You didn't notice?" Quinn said.

The Latina rolled her eyes and turned to Finn.

"Fine. I'm not gonna blame you, Hudson. I just want more details so I can find out who the hell told Headmaster Figgins."

"I don't know," the boy replied defeatedly. "We were talking in a hallway at the hospital. There were a few people there, but I don't think I know them."

"You need to think harder," Santana insisted.

"So what? What are you gonna do to that person when you find out who it was?" Finn asked.

Santana really had no answer. She only wanted to know the truth.

A voice came from behind her. "Yeah, Santana. What are you gonna do to me?"

It was Hunter Clarington, a fifth year student from Pentagon. As usual, the fourth year boys named Clint and Thad accompanied him.

They were three of her least favorite students in school. They were kind of people who usually got what they wanted and made a big deal when they did not, and Santana wished they were not in the same House as her.

When Santana was chosen to be the Seeker of her House's quidditch team, Hunter was rejected. And last year, he was rejected again by Santana herself when he applied to be a substitute. She let him know that the only reason she did not let him in the team was because he was not a good player. They barely crossed paths until today, and she was not surprised that he had held a grudge against her all along.

"So it was you," Santana said and folded her arms. "I should have known."

"I actually have to give the credit to a friend of a friend of a friend who overheard the juicy gossip at the hospital," Hunter said shamelessly.

"So what?" Santana retorted back. "I'm not ashamed of who I am. All you did was making me annoyed by those assholes who don't know how to mind their own freaking business."

Clint and Thad started to laugh, which made Santana fear for what might happen next.

"Oh, you haven't seen the best part of it yet," Hunter said smugly. He turned to the double doors behind him and continued. "Right on time."

An owl flew in with a red envelope in its mouth and Santana froze. It dropped the letter above her, and the red object started to talk without wasting any second.

 _SANTANA! JUST WHEN I THOUGHT YOU COULDN'T DISAPPOINT ME MORE,_

 _YOU JUST WENT AHEAD AND EMBARRASS ME TOO!_

Alma Lopez's voice reverberated to the ceiling and back.

"You don't have to listen to it, S," Quinn suggested, but Santana could not move.

Her fists were clenching when the howler proceeded the rest of the message.

 _I WAS AT A PARTY LAST NIGHT AND EVERYONE ASKED ABOUT YOU!_

 _MIRANDA CLARINGTON ASKED ME HOW I COULD LET SUCH THING HAPPEN_

 _AND I JUST HAD TO TELL HER I DON'T ASSOCIATE WITH YOU ANYMORE._

 _SOME EVEN COMPLIMENTED ME FOR BEING A COOL MODERN GRANDMA_

 _WITH A HOMOSEXUAL GRANDDAUGHTER!_

' _COOL MODERN GRANDMA'?! I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!_

 _I WANT YOU TO KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU PUT ME THROUGH_

 _AND I WANT TO MAKE SURE YOU HEARD ME CORRECTLY THE LAST TIME_

 _I NEVER WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN_

The red letter tore itself apart and fell on the floor. The whole room was quiet until Hunter and his friends started laughing and some of other students from both Houses joined them.

It was not the first time abuela sent a howler to her. She got them a few times when she caused some trouble in the past. But this time she knew she did not deserve it. She knew she did not do anything wrong.

"What's wrong, Lopez? Ghoul got your tongue?" Hunter asked and stepped closer to her. He faked a whisper to his friends after he took a close look at her. "Guys, I think she's crying."

Santana did not realize hot tears were falling down her face until she heard his words.

Thad repeated what his senior friend said with a louder voice. "Santana Lopez is crying!"

She had never felt worse in her entire life, except the day she lost Maxine. She hated feeling weak and helpless. And she wanted to get out of here.

She started to move forward, but the three boys blocked her way.

It took her by surprise when Finn got up and pushed Hunter away, and she was sure Quinn punched Thad in the face when she started running.

Judging from the sound behind, it seemed like a fist fight had started.

She should stay. As a Prefect, she should stop it. But all she wanted to do was to run away, run away and never come back.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry for disappearing again. Work and school is so hectic, and I have to admit that I'm kinda focusing on my other fic these days, so I truly apologize for that. I think I spent the whole week for this chapter. It never took this long, but I was kinda short on concentration this time.**

 **Anyway, originally, I wanted Finn to be the one who outed Santana maliciously, but then I felt like I should change what the show did, so it became Hunter (Tbh, I really didn't like the Warblers, so here I am, villainizing them). And don't worry about Santana. She's gonna be fine and she's gonna come back stronger than ever. :)**


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